Conventional and Molecular Breeding Approaches for Biofortification of Pearl Millet

Abstract

Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] is an essential diet of more than 90 million people in the semi-arid tropics of the world where droughts and low fertility of soils cause frequent failures of other crops. It is an important nutri-rich grain cereal in the drier regions of the world grown on 26 mha by millions of farmers (IFAD 1999; Yadav and Rai 2013). This makes pearl millet the sixth most important crop in the world and fourth most important food crop of the India, next to rice, wheat, and maize with annual cultivation over an area of ~8 mha. Pearl millet is also primary food crop in sub-Saharan Africa and is grown on 15 mha (Yadav and Rai 2013). The significant increase in productivity of pearl millet in India is attributed to development and adoption of hybrids of early to medium duration maturity. More than 120 diverse hybrids/varieties have been released till date for various production environments. The heterosis breeding and improved crop management technologies increased productivity substantially achieving higher increased production of 9.80 mt in 2016-2017 from 2.60 mt in 1950-1951 in spite of declined of area under the crop by 20-30% over last two decades (Yadav et al. 2012).Over 50% pearl millet grain production in Asia is utilized for food purpose and the 20% is used for feed, while 100% grain is used as food in west and central Africa. The per capita consumption of pearl millet in India is highest among rural population in the western Rajasthan and Gujarat, contributing to more than 50% of cereal consumption in these regions (Parthasarathy Rao et al. 2006). Pearl millet

Breeding Biofortified Pearl Millet Varieties and Hybrids to Enhance Millet Markets for Human Nutrition

“…A highly positive and significant correlation between Fe and Zn encourages a concurrent genetic improvement [9,[26][27][28]. Meanwhile, both micronutrients are negatively and non-significantly associated with the grain yield due to the genetic architecture of the breeding lines and cultivar, as they were coming from targeted selections for the yield and not targeted for the micronutrients [16,29]. Interestingly, the biofortified hybrids which are bred for both traits are reflected no in a negative association with the grain yield (Figure 4).…”

Production and cultivation dynamics of millets in India

“…The recent research on millets on biofortification has been able to establish that there exists sufficient genetic variation for micronutrients in the germplasm collection of all millets (Rai et al, 2013). Consequently, seed-mineral dense germplasm has been identified in each millet (Govindaraj et al, 2019a). Initial information on the nature and degree of genotype × environment interaction, and inter-relationships between grain minerals and agronomic traits appear to determine breeding efficiency for developing grain mineral dense millet cultivars (Govindaraj et al, 2019b) with high-yielding potential under biotic and abiotic stresses of dryland environments.…”

“…Processing and value addition Diversifying value addition for higher prices and increased profits for farmers to be explored. Simultaneously, focus on studying the nature and degree of genotype × environment interaction, inheritance pattern, and inter-relationships between grain minerals and adaptable agronomic traits has to be intensified to developing high-yielding biofortified millet cultivars (Govindaraj et al, 2019a). Breeding for grain quality translates into adding additional trait in breeding programs and would essentially require strong funding resources and collaborative efforts.…”