Breeding approaches for the development of nutraceutical vegetables: A review

Nutraceuticals are the sustainable alternatives for prevention of number of human diseases. A vegetable with low calories possesses phytochemicals, antioxidants, minerals and vitamins, are the vital source of biologically active nutraceuticals. Some of the well studied phytonutraceuticals are lycopene, isoflavonoids, quercetin, glucosinolates sulforaphane, capsaicin, carotenoids, etc. Hence, it is important to precisely identify the plant-based bioactive chemicals that are essential for human nutrition. Through, both conventional and molecular breeding techniques, they should be investigated in order to create cultivars with superior nutritional characteristics. The breeding approaches such as traditional approaches and molecular breeding methods are well exploited for improving nutraceuticals vegetable properties. Biofortification is one of the latest and leading approaches for further enhancement of bioactive compounds in vegetables as evidenced by release of several biofortified varieties in sweet potato, cassava and greater yam from CTCRI, Thiruvananthapuram. Various aspects of nutraceutical crops such as germplasm resources evaluated, genes identified, breeding methods used and varieties developed in vegetable crops are reviewed in present paper. Further, the present review has been devoted towards better enhancing nutraceutical qualities of vegetables through biotechnological approaches.