Genetics and Genomics Resources of Millets: Availability, Advancements, and Applications

In the contemporary times, agricultural and food entities have gathered a lot of scientific attention confessing their research focus mainly on major food crops and at the same time undermining the local but highly vital crops. One such food crop of notable worth that demands further research exploration is millet crop. Millets are the nutritious food crops traditionally grown and used in Asia and Africa. Millets fit into the grass family Poaceae that include species such as finger millet (Eleusine coracana), kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum), foxtail millet (Setaria italica), proso millet (Panicum miliaceum), little millet (Panicum sumatrense), job’s tears (Coix lacrymajobi), and barnyard millet (Echinochloa spp.). Besides being immensely nutritional rich crop, millets pose tremendous proficiency to withstand hard stress conditions allowing them to endure the severity of climate change. These resilient features underline the prominence of directing research and development towards these crops. Except for finger millet and foxtail millet, other small millets have received little research consideration in terms of the development of genetic and genomic resources and breeding for yield improvement. In addition to germplasm diversity, the recent developments in phenotyping and genomics technologies can be used for the improvement of millets. This assessment offers an inclusive vision into the significance of millets, the global standing of their germplasm, diversity, assuring germplasm resources, and breeding approaches in order to accelerate the inclusion of climate-resilient and nutrient-rich millets for sustainable agriculture, ecology, and healthy food systems.