Pearl Millet

Abstract

With an alarming concern of global climate change and increasing demand for drought-tolerant cereal staples, pearl millet, a widely exo-geographically adopted member of the millet family, has caught the attention for a robust genetic improvement. This chapter focuses on the various gene transfer technologies, both horizontal and vertical, employed so far in pearl millet to improve the strategy of introgression of newer traits and validation of gene function through transgenic development. This chapter also compares the different gene transfer technologies based on their exploitation in pearl millet development. It also accounts for the details of genes transferred so far, especially for conferring biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, in this crop. This chapter also discusses the future possibilities regarding the introgression of genes of new traits and technologies already utilized in other millets, which are hitherto unexploited for pearl millet.