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Vitamin A deficiency caused by insufficient intake of β-carotene has emerged as one of the most important problems afflicting people worldwide. Traditional yellow maize is predominated by lutein and zeaxanthin; but contains low β-carotene par below the daily requirement for humans. A natural variant of crtRB1 allele increases β-carotene in kernel by blocking its conversion to zeaxanthin. In the present study, genetic diversity analyses were carried out among 24 diverse maize inbreds possessing rare allele of crtRB1. The mean β-carotene among the inbreds was 9.3 μg/g, with 14 inbreds having 9.1–18.8 μg/g. Among the inbreds of exotic origin, HP704-23, HP704-22, HP467-15, HP465-41 and HP467-20 were promising with high β-carotene. In case of inbreds developed in India, VQL-2-PV, VQL1-PV, V345-PV, V335-PV, HKI161-PV, MGU-PV-2, HKI1105-PV, HKI323-PV and MGU-PV-3 were identified to …