{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,29]],"date-time":"2026-08-29T01:17:29Z","timestamp":1787966249353,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":69,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,17]],"date-time":"2025-07-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1752710400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Plant Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Maize is a strategic food crop in sub-Saharan Africa, where vitamin A deficiency affects millions. Significant investments have thus focused on developing maize varieties that provide 50% of the daily vitamin A requirement for vulnerable populations. Despite the release of many provitamin A enriched maize varieties across Africa, estimates of genetic gains in provitamin A content and grain yield from long-term breeding programs are undocumented. This study analyzed data from 124 provitamin A-enriched hybrids and eight commercial checks recorded over 12 years across diverse environments to estimate genetic gains. Results showed a significant annual increase of 2.05% in provitamin A and 3.54% in \u03b2-carotene, alongside a 1.09% reduction in \u03b2-cryptoxanthin. Additionally, our breeding program achieved an annual genetic gain of 1.88% in grain yield while simultaneously decreasing silking days by 0.09% and plant aspect score by 0.35%, alongside a 0.31% increase in plant height. We identified 23 hybrids that accumulated 54% to 95% more provitamin A and produced 10% to 30% higher grain yields compared to the best commercial hybrid (COMYH129). These findings demonstrate concurrent genetic gains in both provitamin A content and grain yield, highlighting the potential for further productivity increase and accumulation of beneficial carotenoid to improve human health.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpls.2025.1611495","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,17]],"date-time":"2025-07-17T05:26:05Z","timestamp":1752729965000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Concurrent enhancement of provitamin A and yield in tropical maize hybrids"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Abebe","family":"Menkir","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ibnou","family":"Dieng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Silvestro","family":"Meseka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bussie","family":"Maziya-Dixon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bunmi","family":"Bossey","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Oyekunle","family":"Muhyideen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Manfred","family":"Ewool","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mmadou","family":"Coulibaly","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wende","family":"Mengesha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"16","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jcs.2018.01.009","article-title":"Estimating genetic variation and genetic parameters for grain iron zinc and protein concentrations in bread wheat genotypes grown in Iran","volume":"80","author":"Amiri","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. 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