Small millets are nutrient-rich food sources traditionally grown and consumed by subsistence farmers in Asia and Africa. They include finger millet (Eleusine coracana), foxtail millet (Setaria italica), kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum), proso millet (Panicum miliaceum), barnyard millet (Echinochloa spp.), and little millet (Panicum sumatrense). Local farmers value the small millets for their nutritional and health benefits, tolerance to extreme stress including drought, and ability to grow under low nutrient input conditions, ideal in an era of climate change and steadily depleting natural resources. Little scientific attention has been paid to these crops, hence they have been termed “orphan cereals.” Despite this challenge, an advantageous quality of the small millets is that they continue to be grown in remote regions of the world which has preserved their biodiversity, providing breeders with unique alleles for crop improvement. The purpose of this review, first, is to highlight the diverse traits of each small millet species that are valued by farmers and consumers which hold potential for selection, improvement or mechanistic study. For each species, the germplasm, genetic and genomic resources available will then be described as potential tools to exploit this biodiversity. The review will conclude with noting current trends and gaps in the literature and make recommendations on how to better preserve and utilize diversity within these species to accelerate a New Green Revolution for subsistence farmers in Asia and Africa.

The small grain cereal, finger millet (FM, Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn), is valued by subsistence farmers in India and East Africa as a low-input crop. It is reported by farmers to require no added nitrogen (N), or only residual N, to produce grain. Exact mechanisms underlying the acclimation responses of FM to low N are largely unknown, both above and below ground. In particular, the responses of FM roots and root hairs to N or any other nutrient have not previously been reported. Given its low N requirement, FM also provides a rare opportunity to study long-term responses to N starvation in a cereal species. The objective of this study was to survey the shoot and root morphometric responses of FM, including root hairs, to low N stress. Plants were grown in pails in a semi-hydroponic system on clay containing extremely low background N, supplemented with N or no N. To our surprise, plants grown without deliberately added N grew to maturity, looked relatively normal and produced healthy seed heads. Plants responded to the low N treatment by decreasing shoot, root, and seed head biomass. These declines under low N were associated with decreased shoot tiller number, crown root number, total crown root length and total lateral root length, but with no consistent changes in root hair traits. Changes in tiller and crown root number appeared to coordinate the above and below ground acclimation responses to N. We discuss the remarkable ability of FM to grow to maturity without deliberately added N. The results suggest that FM should be further explored to understand this trait. Our observations are consistent with indigenous knowledge from subsistence farmers in Africa and Asia, where it is reported that this crop can survive extreme environments.

Phosphorus (P) deficiency is a major constraint in highly weathered tropical soils. Although phosphorous rock reserves may last for several hundred years, there exists an urgent need to research efficient P management for sustainable agriculture. Plant hormones play an important role in regulating plant growth, development, and reproduction. Humic substances (HS) are not only considered an essential component of soil organic carbon (SOC), but also well known as a biostimulant which can perform phytohormone-like activities to induce nutrient uptake. This review paper presents an overview of the scientific outputs in the relationship between HS and plant hormones. Special attention will be paid to the interaction between HS and plant hormones for nutrient uptake under P-deficient conditions.

BackgroundThe amino acid glutamine (Gln) is a primary transport form of nitrogen in vasculature following root uptake, critical for the location/timing of growth in maize and other cereals. Analytical chemistry methods do not permit in situ analysis of Gln, including visualization within the vascular network. Their cost and tissue requirement are barriers to exploring the complexity of Gln dynamics. We previously reported a biosensor, GlnLux, which can measure relative Gln levels inexpensively with tiny amounts of tissue.ResultsHere, maize seedlings were given different N rates for multiple uptake/assimilation durations, after which > 1500 leaf disk extracts were analyzed. A second technique permitted in situ imaging of Gln for all leaves sampled simultaneously. We demonstrate that multifactorial interactions govern Gln accumulation involving position within each leaf (mediolateral/proximodistal), location of leaves along the shoot axis, N rate, and uptake duration. In situ imaging localized Gln in leaf veins for the first time. A novel hypothesis is that leaf Gln may flow along preferential vascular routes, for example in response to mechanical damage or metabolic needs.ConclusionsThe GlnLux technology enabled the most detailed map of relative Gln accumulation in any plant, and the first report of in situ Gln at vein-level resolution. The technology might be used with any plant species in a similar manner.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12870-016-0918-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

In cereal crops, root hairs are reported to function within the root hair zone to carry out important roles in nutrient and water absorption. Nevertheless, these single cells remain understudied due to the practical challenges of phenotyping these delicate structures in large cereal crops growing on soil or other growth systems. Here we present an alternative growth system for examining the root hairs of cereal crops: the use of coarse Turface® clay alongside fertigation. This system allowed for root hairs to be easily visualized along the entire lengths of crown roots in three different cereal crops (maize, wheat, and finger millet). Surprisingly, we observed that the root hairs in these crops continued to grow beyond the canonical root hair zone, with the most root hair growth occurring on older crown root segments. We suggest that the Turface® fertigation system may permit a better understanding of the changing dynamics of root hairs as they age in large plants, and may facilitate new avenues for crop improvement below ground. However, the relevance of this system to field conditions must be further evaluated in other crops.

Current and continuing climate change in the Anthropocene epoch requires sustainable agricultural practices. Additionally, due to changing consumer preferences, organic approaches to cultivation are gaining popularity. The global market for organic grapes, grape products, and wine is growing. Biostimulant and biocontrol products are often applied in organic vineyards and can reduce the synthetic fertilizer, pesticide, and fungicide requirements of a vineyard. Plant growth promotion following application is also observed under a variety of challenging conditions associated with global warming. This paper reviews different groups of biostimulants and their effects on viticulture, including microorganisms, protein hydrolysates, humic acids, pyrogenic materials, and seaweed extracts. Of special interest are biostimulants with utility in protecting plants against the effects of climate change, including drought and heat stress. While many beneficial effects have been reported following the application of these materials, most studies lack a mechanistic explanation, and important parameters are often undefined (e.g., soil characteristics and nutrient availability). We recommend an increased study of the underlying mechanisms of these products to enable the selection of proper biostimulants, application methods, and dosage in viticulture. A detailed understanding of processes dictating beneficial effects in vineyards following application may allow for biostimulants with increased efficacy, uptake, and sustainability.

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Abstract:After uptake in cereal crops, nitrogen (N) is rapidly assimilated into glutamine (Gln) and other amino acids for transport to sinks. Therefore Gln has potential as an improved indicator of soil N availability compared to plant N demand. Gln has primarily been assayed to understand basic plant physiology, rather than to measure plant/soil-N under field conditions. It was hypothesized that leaf Gln at early-to-mid season could report the N application rate and predict end-season grain yield in field-grown maize. A three-year maize field experiment was conducted with N application rates ranging from 30 to 218 kg ha −1 . Relative leaf Gln was assayed from leaf disk tissue using a whole-cell biosensor for Gln (GlnLux) at the V3-V14 growth stages. SPAD (Soil Plant Analysis Development) and NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) measurements were also performed. When sampled at V6 or later, GlnLux glutamine output consistently correlated with the N application rate, end-season yield, and grain N content. Yield correlation outperformed GreenSeeker TM NDVI, and was equivalent to SPAD chlorophyll, indicating the potential for yield prediction. Additionally, depleting soil N via overplanting increased GlnLux resolution to the earlier V5 stage. The results of the study are discussed in the context of luxury N consumption, leaf N remobilization, senescence, and grain fill. The potential and challenges of leaf Gln and GlnLux for the study of crop N physiology, and future N management are also discussed.