International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
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Consensus Genomic Regions and Key Genes for Biotic, Abiotic and Key Nutritional Traits Identified using Meta-QTL Analysis in Peanut
No full textPeanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important oilseed crop extensively cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions, facing numerous biotic and abiotic challenges. Among these
challenges, infection by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus leads to aflatoxin contamination, posing serious health risks. Identifying genomic regions associated with key traits and incorporating them into breeding programs can help to address these challenges. Although many large-effect QTLs for yield and other important traits have been identified, their use in breeding programs is limited due to unfavourable interactions in different genetic backgrounds. To enhance its effectiveness, this study aimed to identify stable QTLs across different genetic backgrounds and environmental conditions. We analysed QTL data from 30
independent studies conducted over the past 12 years, focusing on biotic, abiotic, aflatoxin, morphological, nutrient, phenological and yield-associated traits in peanut. In this study, genetic maps information was used to construct consensus maps, and 891 QTLs were used for
meta-analysis. A total of 70 Meta-QTLs were identified, with confidence intervals (CIs) ranging from 0.07 to 9.63 cM and an average of 2.40 cM. Among these, 13 Meta-QTLs contained 18 aflatoxin-associated QTLs. Four alfatoxin QTLs were located on LG05, and two each on LG07, LG13 and LG16. From these meta-genomic regions, several genes were identified, potentially influencing traits like yield, morphological and resistance to biotic and abiotic stress. The characterization of these Meta-QTLs offers significant promise for the advancement of future peanut breeding initiatives
India's compliance with the international IPR regime – A case of plant genetic resources
Get PDFThe Indian subcontinent is one of the eight Primary Vavilonian Centers of crop origin and ranks second after the Chinese centre regarding crop origin. The region has 117 crop species, including rice, millet and legumes. India is also one of the 17 megadiverse countries of the world. Studies show that India has made an excellent contribution to Svalbard Global Seed Vault compared to any individual Gene Bank. Owing to its rich biodiversity, the country must enforce the best governance system for its Plant Genetic Resources (PGRs) for food and agriculture under the International Intellectual Property Regime. Though developed at a relatively slower pace than other IPRs, India's two key legislations - the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001 (PPV & FRA) and the Geographical Indications Act, 1999 (GIA), which offer legal protection to its PGRs. Complementing these legislations, the Biological Diversity Act (2002), amended in 2023), BDA ensures access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from their utilization. The Indian sui-generis
legislation for plant variety protection has a unique component: Farmers' Rights. This article briefly reviews India's compliance with the international IPR regime, using PGRs as a case study
Sustainable intensification in coconut for building system resilience and nutritional security of smallholders in Eastern India
Get PDFCoconut-based cropping systems are vital to the coastal rural economy, which faces challenges like declining soil fertility, low productivity, pest invasions, and climate change. The study conducted in the eastern Indian state of Odisha investigated strategies for sustainable intensification in coconut through multi-storied and intercropping, reinforced with soil test-based fertilizer management (STBFM). Multi-storied cropping with STBFM (T6) recorded significantly higher coconut equivalent yield (33,407 nuts ha−1) and net income (USD 4344.67 ha−1) annually. Correlation study revealed the importance of magnesium, calcium, and copper in enhancing system productivity and profitability. Multi-storied cropping with and without STBFM recorded the highest sustainability yield index (0.91 and 0.86). Nutritional composition was higher in T6 (energy—110,632 Kcal, fat—902 g, carbohydrates—22,344 g, and iron—5190 mg). The Present study highlights the need for the adoption of multi-storied/intercropping with judicious nutrient management for reinvigorating sustainable coconut farming at landscapes, besides ensuring smallholders’ nutritional security in eastern Indian states
Modern convenient sorghum and millet food, beverage, and animal feed products and their technologies
No full textIn regions and countries worldwide, there is a sustained surge in value-added applications of sorghum and millets in modern food and beverage products and pet food and animal feed applications. These alternative grains are increasingly important for the food industry with growth driven by the need for environmentally sustainable food crops, changing food consumption patterns in developing countries resulting from rapid urbanization, and consumer demand for convenient, nutritious, healthy, and gluten-free products. Using product examples and information from the USA, India, and Africa, and market assessments from Europe and the USA, this chapter describes cutting-edge research into using sorghum and millets for various applications, as well as innovative processing technologies. Products covered include breakfast cereals and snacks, precooked pasta and rice, unleavened flat breads, health-promoting products, fortified blended foods used in government-sponsored aid programs, beers and nonalcoholic malt drinks, other nonalcoholic fermented or powder-based beverages, plus pet food, and aquatic feed
Fermentation Kinetics and Changes in Levels of Antinutrients in Pearl Millet and Pearl Millet-Maize Composite Dough Recipes Used to Prepare Injera
Get PDFWhile pearl millet is rich in important nutrients with potential health and nutrition benefits, it contains antinutrients that limit the bioavailability of minerals and the digestibility of starches and proteins; however, fermentation is believed to reduce these antinutrient levels. The objective of this work was to determine the fermentation kinetics and its implications for changes in the levels of antinutrients in pearl millet and pearl millet-maize composite dough recipes used to prepare Injera, a traditional fermented flatbread consumed in Ethiopia. Three dough recipes identified through focus group discussion with women from the Dangeshita sub-district, Dangila District, Ethiopia, were investigated: pure pearl millet dough (P), a 1:1 mixture of pearl millet and maize (P1M1) and a 1:2 mixture of pearl millet and maize (P1M2) doughs. Significant decreases in pH were observed for all dough recipes at the later stages of fermentation. This drop in pH was accompanied by a rapid increase in titratable acidity. Counts of aerobic mesophilic bacteria and molds decreased (with molds reaching zero), while counts of yeasts and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) increased at the later stage of fermentation across all dough recipes. A two-step fermentation process characterized by both lactic acid and alcoholic fermentation was identified, yielding lactic acid and mannitol as primary end products. Phytate was degraded by 91.3% in pearl millet (P) dough, by 98.2% in P1M1 dough, and by 72.7% in P1M2 dough after 168 h (7 days) fermentation. All fermented dough recipes resulted in reduced levels of raffinose at the later stages of fermentation, with the highest degradation noted in pearl millet (P) dough (95%) followed by P1M1 dough (87.7%) and P1M2 (80.8%) dough. In conclusion, 7 days fermentation resulted in significant reductions of phytate and raffinose levels in all dough recipes
Leveraging ML to predict climate change impact on rice crop disease in Eastern India
Get PDFRice crop disease is critical in precision agriculture due to various influencing components and unstable environments. The current study uses machine learning (ML) models to predict rice crop disease in Eastern India based on biophysical factors for current and future scenarios. The nine biophysical parameters are precipitation (Pr), maximum temperature (Tmax), minimum temperature (Tmin), soil texture (ST), available water capacity (AWC), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), soil-adjusted vegetation index (SAVI), normalized difference chlorophyll index (NDCI), and normalized difference moisture index (NDMI) by Random forest (RF), Gradient Boosting Machine (GBM), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGB), Artificial Neural Net (ANN), and Support vector Machine (SVM). The multicollinearity test Boruta feature selection techniques that assessed interdependency and prioritized the factors impacting crop disease. However, climatic change scenarios were created using the most recent Climate Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) 2–4.5 and SSP5-8.5 datasets. The rice crop disease validation was accomplished using 1105 field-based farmer observation recordings. According to the current findings, Purba Bardhaman district experienced a 96.72% spread of rice brown spot disease due to weather conditions. In contrast, rice blast diseases are prevalent in the north-western region of Birbhum district, affecting 72.38% of rice plants due to high temperatures, water deficits, and low soil moisture. Rice tungro disease affects 63.45% of the rice plants in Bankura district due to nitrogen and zinc deficiencies. It was discovered that the link between NDMI and NDVI is robust and positive, with values ranging from 0.8 to 1. According to SHAP analysis, Pr, Tmin, and Tmax are the top three climatic variables impacting all types of disease cases. The study’s findings could have a substantial impact on precision crop protection and meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
UAV-Borne Hyperspectral Imaging Dataset of Pearl Millet Canopy Water Stress
No full textDeveloping sustainable crop varieties for climate change, drought, and heat waves is an immediate need for the agricultural community. Breeding scientists are actively developing better crop varieties; however, assessing the performance of thousands of genotypes, called plant phenotyping, presents a significant logistical challenge. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) -based Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) is a potential technology to address this challenge, which acquires rich spectral information of objects in hundreds of spectral channels with large fields of coverage. However, very few crop HSI datasets are available for public use in the literature. In this study, we leveraged UAV-based HSI covering the spectrum range of 400–1000 nm to create a comprehensive dataset of pearl millet canopy water stress. Utilizing state-of-the-art machine learning (ML) benchmarks, we conducted classification experiments to showcase the dataset’s effectiveness in characterizing progressive water stress in pearl millet canopy. Moreover, we emphasize our commitment to making this dataset publicly available, recognizing its potential to advance research activities in the agriculture domain using UAV-based sensing
Advancements in Genetic Enhancement Addressing Key Challenges in Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.)
Get PDFPearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum R. Br.), an important cereal crop widely grown in arid and semi-arid regions of Asia and Africa, plays a vital role in global food security. However, it faces significant challenges due to climate change, soil degradation, emerging pests, and diseases. Genetic enhancement is a promising approach to mitigate these challenges and to improve pearl millet resilience and yield. This review explores recent advancements in genetic enhancement to addresses key constraints in boosting pearl millet yields sustainably. The developments in genetic enhancement hold promise for addressing the complex challenges faced in pearl millet cultivation and offers the way forward for increased productivity, resilience, and food security in vulnerable regions. This review highlights modern strategies such as molecular breeding, genomic selection, systems biology tools, genetic engineering, and gene editing, which enable the precise identification and incorporation of desirable traits such as abiotic stress tolerance, resistance to biotic stress, improved nutritional content, etc. However, continued research, collaboration, and investment are essential to fully harness the potential of genetic resources and technologies to benefit smallholder farmers and global food and nutritional security
Metabolomic analysis of Pennisetum glaucum seed extracts using advanced LC–MS/MS and Q-TOF technology
Get PDFPearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) is a cereal widely cultivated and grown in Africa and the Indian subcontinent for centuries. The present investigation aims to use LC–MS/MS to analyze the secondary metabolites present in pearl millet seeds using different solvents such as methanol, hexane, chloroform, and ethyl acetate. METLIN software was used to identify the metabolites. The analysis revealed the presence of 650 metabolites, among which 145 were commonly found in all the solvent extracts. The major classes of identified metabolites are terpenoids, flavonoids, sterols, amino acids, fatty acids, glycoconjugates, and carbohydrates. 80% methanolic extract and ethyl acetate extract yielded the highest concentrations of terpenoid (23%) and flavonoid (17%). The enrichment analysis was performed to statistically examine and identify the metabolites present in the metabolomic library dataset. In the hexane extract, notable metabolites such as quercetin and rutin were identified, which possess potential for the management of Alzheimer’s disease due to their neuroprotective effects (p < 4e-35). In the methanol extract, metabolites like gallic acid and caffeic acid were associated with uremia treatment due to their antioxidant activity (p < 5e-37). Overall, the present study provides an overview of the metabolites present in the pearl millet seeds and the nutritive as well as therapeutic potential of these millets in the management of human diseases
Fortifying crops with micronutrients for sustainable global nutritional security
Get PDFThe adverse effects of climate change on crop productivity and nutritional content have raised concerns toward food and nutritional security. These challenges can be mitigated by developing climate-resilient and biofortified crop varieties. A biofortification strategy focused on developing cultivars enriched in essential micronutrients is one of the most promising and effective approaches to addressing nutrient deficiencies in the context of a changing climate. Current efforts by scientists around the globe are aimed at bio-fortifying crops to meet present and future nutritional security needs. The grain fortification with enhanced mineral content in the seed endosperm/cotyledon depends on several factors: the nutritional status of the soil, the bioavailability of minerals in the rhizosphere, and, more specifically, the plant's ability to efficiently uptake and transport these nutrients to the sink organs. Microorganisms play a critical role in this process by improving soil health and facilitating the breakdown of trace elements through various biogeochemical cycles. In particular, plant growth-promoting (PGP) microbes, primarily actinomycetes, enhance bioavailability of minerals to crop plants, thereby improving seed mineral content. Emerging technologies and research innovations can combat global hidden hunger, and ensure nutritional security worldwide, even amidst the challenges posed by climate change. This review highlights the importance of biofortification, addresses the imminent challenges, and suggests actionable solutions. Additionally, it explores the combination of traditional agricultural practices with modern approaches to enhance nutritional quality of crops, thus contributing to a sustainable and secure food system for the future