title: Exploration of millet models for developing nutrient rich graminaceous crops.
abstract: Protein-energy malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies contribute to high mortality among considerable proportion of the current 7.2 billion global populations, especially children. Although poverty and diets poor in nutrition are prime reasons for prevalence of malnutrition, nutritionally dense crops offer an inexpensive and sustainable solution to the problem of malnutrition. Remarkably, millets are nutritionally superior to major non-millet cereals. They especially are rich in dietary fibers, antioxidants, phytochemicals and polyphenols, which contribute broad-spectrum positive impacts to human health. However, millets have received lesser research attention universally, and considering this, the present review was planned to summarize the reports available on nutrition profile of millets and non-millet cereals to provide a comparative insight on importance of millets. It also emphasizes the need for research on deciphering nutritional traits present in millets and to develop strategies for introgressing these traits into other conventional staple crops using germplasm and 'omics' technologies. In some millet species, excellent 'omics' and germplasm panels have started to get available which can act as a starting point for understanding as well as of introgressing healthful traits across millets and non-millet cereals.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Plant Genome Research, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110067, India. Electronic address: muthamilarasan@nipgr.ac.in.
authors.forename: Mehanathan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Muthamilarasan
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Plant Genome Research, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110067, India. Electronic address: annvi@nipgr.ac.in.
authors.forename: Annvi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dhaka
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Plas Goggerdan, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3EB, United Kingdom. Electronic address: rsy@aber.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Rattan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yadav
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Plant Genome Research, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi 110067, India. Electronic address: manoj_prasad@nipgr.ac.in.
authors.forename: Manoj
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prasad
mesh_terms: D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002523:Edible Grain / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D055432:Metabolomics / Q000379:methods; D000066928:Millets / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009753:Nutritive Value; D000069600:Plant Breeding / Q000379:methods; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods
keywords: Food security; Genomics; Gramineae; Millets; Nutrition