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Not AvailableThe maize crop is well known for its commercial usage around the world. India is also focussing on its popularization through the development of quality based inbreds or hybrids. The market or saleable quality of food is dictated mainly by the color. The color food not only increases the appeal of a food item but its various shades are being fascinated towards a large population. The anthocyanins are water soluble pigments which are receiving more prominence not only for their colorant properties but also to their antioxidant potential. In order to develop functional food at IIMR, a total of 18 exotic entries including few inbreds and selected maize germplasm from NBPGR were screened for total anthocyanin content. The selection of inbreds was based on high yield potential and color types. The major drawback of usage of anthocyanin is its stability in the basic food items. To overcome this, there is a need to assess the genotypes having maximum anthocyanin content for stability attribute either through composites or nanotechnological interventions.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableThe manual seeding, harvesting and processing operations are the most labour intensive and the current practices have many drawbacks. The physical properties of seeds play an important role for designing or fabricating tools or devices which are meant for various crop management operations. Therefore, the physical properties of the maize seeds such as mass, geometric mean of diameter, arithmetic mean of diameter, sphericity and projected areas of length, width and thickness were studied for the futuristic development of many tools for promising lines of color maize germplasm.ICA

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Not AvailableThe membrane lipids serve as the first line of defence to protect the cells from stress. The membrane glycerophospholipids and the associated enzymes have an important role in membrane stability, fluidity, and function. One of the key regulators in membrane dynamics is phospholipase D (PLD) which produces phosphatidic acid for dual working as a producer of membrane lipid diversity and as a secondary messenger. Phosphatidic acid has a binding affinity for many effector proteins including NADPH oxidase, MAP kinases etc. which actively participate in signalling pathways. Under various abiotic stresses, the role of various isoforms of PLD has been documented. The different isoforms behave differently. Two isoforms PLDα and PLDδ have been studied well and through the mutant analyses, their role under specific stress conditions has been highlighted. There is a cross-talk among PA, Ca2+, and NO through integrated signalling pathways which needs further investigation for dissecting the role of individual species.Not AvailableNot Availabl

Beyond colors: The health benefits of maize anthocyanins

The anthocyanins (ACN) are watersoluble pigments present in the pericarp or aleurone layer of maize kernel. The authentic color landraces being grown by the farmers at a smaller scale restricted to local consumers. These color ears (cob with color kernels) which are receiving more prominence not only for their environment friendly and natural colorant properties but also to their numerous health benefits from edible food pigments. Since anthocyanin pigments have significant effects on animal health, it is also catching the attention of food processing companies as well as highend culinary markets. In this review, we have represented functional properties of anthocyanins present in maize. Earlier, studies best on in vitro tests were extrapolatory but now using cell models and animal trials are providing foolproof evidence for functional significance of corn anthocyanins. The mechanisms of action at the cellular and molecular level have been understood