Foxtail millet (Setaria italica), a small-grained cereal crop, is a rich source of carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, fibers, and lipids, with lipid content ranging from 1–5

Our current agricultural system faces a perfect storm-climate change, a burgeoning population, and unpredictable outbreaks such as COVID-19 which disrupt food production, particularly for vulnerable populations in developing countries. A paradigm shift in agriculture practices is needed to tackle these issues. One solution is the diversification of crop production. While ~56% of the plant-based protein stems from three major cereal crops (rice, wheat, and maize), underutilized crops such as millets, legumes, and other cereals are highly neglected by farmers and the research community. Millets are one of the most ancient and versatile orphan crops with attributes such as fast growing, high yielding, withstanding harsh environments, and rich in micronutrients such as iron and zinc, making them appealing to achieve agronomic sustainability. Here, we highlight the contribution of millet to agriculture and focus on the genetic diversity of millet, genomic resources, and next-generation omics and their applications under various stress conditions. Additionally, integrative omics technologies could identify and develop millets with desirable phenotypes having high agronomic value and mitigating climate change. We emphasize that biotechnological interventions, such as genome-wide association, genomic selection, genome editing, and artificial intelligence/machine learning, can improve and breed millets more effectively.

Taste value of rice grain is one of the key determinants of its quality, regulated through a complex molecular module. It was revealed that amylose is the key determinant of rice grain quality and precise manipulation of amylose could able to enhance rice grain dietary quality. Together with amylose, grain protein content (GPC) also plays a crucial role to maintaining grain quality and higher accumulation glutelin can deteriorate grain quality. Recently, Cao et al. (2025) demonstrated that the OsGATA7-SMOS1-OsGluA2 module enhances grain taste value by reducing GPC in the elite haplotype OsGATA7Hap1 and SMOS1Hap1, providing a holistic approach to improve rice grain quality.

BACKGROUND:Drought, heat and their combination negatively influence starch synthesis and its physicochemical properties at the grain-filling stage in japonica rice; however, no reports are available on indica rice. Therefore, this present study investigated the effects of drought, heat and their combination on starch synthesis and its physicochemical properties at the grain-filling stage of an indica rice of fundamental importance. RESULTS:There was a decrease in starch content and amylose proportion relative to amylopectin, whereas an increase in soluble sugar levels under drought, heat and their combined conditions. Pasting properties, grain size, swelling power and relative crystallinity were also adversely affected, resulting in lower eating and cooking qualities. During heat and drought stress, starch crystallinity was 41.05% and 41.65% respectively, whereas under combined levels starch crystallinity was reduced significantly by 14.1%, compared to the control (42.8%). Resistant starch was reduced significantly under these stresses, directly correlated with a decline in amylose content. The major starch synthesis genes, OsAGPS2b, OsAGPLII, OsGBSSI, OsGBSSII, OsSS3A, OsPHO, OsISA1, OsBE1 and BE2b, were down-regulated following the onset of stress conditions in developing grains, resulting in reduced starch content. Estimated albumin content significantly decreased with the imposed stresses, whereas three other storage proteins (globulin, glutelin and prolamin) showed a mixed response. CONCLUSION:Lower starch and higher soluble sugar levels impact starch-protein-lipid polymerization, resulting in reduced grain size and increased grain chalkiness. In conclusion, both drought and heat stress negatively impact rice grain quality, but their combination is more severe and synergistic. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry.

Millets gained a great attention at the global level in 2023 which is celebrated as the "International Year of Millets" to create awareness to eventually promote consumption and production. An attempt is made here to understand the cultivation and production dynamics of millets as influenced by their demand and supply. We also assess challenges and emerging opportunities to make millets more productive, competitive, and relevant to future farming. Millets registered a 60% decline in area and a 200% rise in productivity, but production has remained the same during the last seven decades. The demand of millets decreased as food due to greater incentives (purchasing grain at a pre-determined price) and policies (distribution of grains to the public at a subsidized rate) in favor of wheat and rice. Millets would play a greater role in future agriculture due to challenges posed by climate change, limited water supply, and reduced agro-biodiversity. This would need a much greater intensity of investment in millet research and adequate support as extended to wheat and rice. Increased emphasis on their genetic improvement and agronomic management is required to develop cultivars, using new tools and technologies, with high production potential and adequate environmental adaptation to make millets competitive with other crops. Mainstreaming the nutritional traits in millet breeding is also critically important to develop high-yielding cultivars with improved grain quality traits. Promoting millet consumption would remain the key issue for increasing their demand as food, feed, and industrial raw materials through policies and awareness programs. Strengthening of value chain will help in diversifying agri-food production system and creating an ecosystem for millet promotion. There have been significant changes in millet cultivation in India during last seven decades. Millets registered a 60% decline in area and 200% rise in productivity. Production of millets has remained same during last seven decades. Millets would play a greater role in future agriculture due to anticipated challenges posed by climate-change. Increasing millet productivity and promoting consumption are the key issues to be addressed.

Climate change inflicts several stresses on plants, of which dehydration stress severely affects growth and productivity. C4 plants possess better adaptability to dehydration stress; however, the role of epigenetic modifications underlying this trait is unclear. In particular, the molecular links between histone modifiers and their regulation remain elusive. In this study, genome-wide H3K9 acetylation (H3K9ac) enrichment using ChIP-sequencing was performed in two foxtail millet cultivars with contrasting dehydration tolerances (IC403579, cv. IC4-tolerant, and IC480117, cv. IC41-sensitive). It revealed that a histone deacetylase, SiHDA9, was significantly up-regulated in the sensitive cultivar. Further characterization indicated that SiHDA9 interacts with SiHAT3.1 and SiHDA19 to form a repressor complex. SiHDA9 might be recruited through the SiHAT3.1 recognition sequence onto the upstream of dehydration-responsive genes to decrease H3K9 acetylation levels. The silencing of SiHDA9 resulted in the up-regulation of crucial genes, namely, SiRAB18, SiRAP2.4, SiP5CS2, SiRD22, SiPIP1;4, and SiLHCB2.3, which imparted dehydration tolerance in the sensitive cultivar (IC41). Overall, the study provides mechanistic insights into SiHDA9-mediated regulation of dehydration stress response in foxtail millet.

Millets stand out as a sustainable crop with the potential to address the issues of food insecurity and malnutrition. These small-seeded, drought-resistant cereals have adapted to survive a broad spectrum of abiotic stresses. Researchers are keen on unravelling the regulatory mechanisms that empower millets to withstand environmental adversities. The aim is to leverage these identified genetic determinants from millets for enhancing the stress tolerance of major cereal crops through genetic engineering or breeding. This review sheds light on transcription factors (TFs) that govern diverse abiotic stress responses and play role in conferring tolerance to various abiotic stresses in millets. Specifically, the molecular functions and expression patterns of investigated TFs from various families, including bHLH, bZIP, DREB, HSF, MYB, NAC, NF-Y and WRKY, are comprehensively discussed. It also explores the potential of TFs in developing stress-tolerant crops, presenting a comprehensive discussion on diverse strategies for their integration.

KEY MESSAGE:A recently reported Pijx gene interacts and promotes the ATPb degradation through 26 proteasomal pathways activate OsRbohC mediated ROS burst, leading to broad-spectrum rice blast resistance in seedling and panicle.

A recent study by Sun et al. OsNLP3 enhances grain weight and reduces grain chalkiness in rice sheds new insight on the crucial role of OsNLP3 in regulating grain weight and chalkiness through its interaction with OsCEP6.1 and OsNF-YA8 and suppress their expression. The research reveals a promising pathway for developing strategies to reduce chalkiness while enhancing grain yield, paving the way for improved rice crop productivity.

Nutrients are essential components for plant growth, development, and survival, directly affecting crop yields. Ever-increasing global population has resulted into surged food demands while shrinking agricultural lands have led to soil nutrient depletion, causing deficiencies in plants and reduced yields. To bridge this gap, fertilizer applications have flowed, but excessive usage has severe environmental, economic, and health consequences. Minimizing fertilizer application without compromising crop yields due to nutrient deficiency is a pressing issue. To address this, understanding and enhancing Nutrient Use Efficiency (NtUE) in crops is essential. The present article discusses the fundamental of NtUE and its components, target traits to be taken into account for NtUE improvement, and holistic strategies to improve NtUE in crops. By improving intrinsic NtUE of crops, we can reduce fertilizer waste, mitigate environmental impacts, and ensure sustainable agricultural productivity.

Plants control expression of their genes in a way that involves manipulating the chromatin structural dynamics in order to adapt to environmental changes and carry out developmental processes. Histone modifications like histone methylation are significant epigenetic marks which profoundly and globally modify chromatin, potentially affecting the expression of several genes. Methylation of histones is catalyzed by histone lysine methyltransferases (HKMTs), that features an evolutionary conserved domain known as SET [Su(var)3-9, E(Z), Trithorax]. This methylation is directed at particular lysine (K) residues on H3 or H4 histone. Plant SET domain group (SDG) proteins are categorized into different classes that have been conserved through evolution, and each class have specificity that influences how the chromatin structure operates. The domains discovered in plant SET domain proteins have typically been linked to protein-protein interactions, suggesting that majority of the SDGs function in complexes. Additionally, SDG-mediated histone mark deposition also affects alternative splicing events. In present review, we discussed the diversity of SDGs in plants including their structural properties. Additionally, we have provided comprehensive summary of the functions of the SDG-domain containing proteins in plant developmental processes and response to environmental stimuli have also been highlighted.

Different environmental cues lead to changes in physiology, biochemistry and molecular status of plant's growth. Till date, various genes have been accounted for their role in regulating plant development and response to abiotic stress. Excluding genes that code for a functional protein in a cell, a large chunk of the eukaryotic transcriptome consists of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) which lack protein coding capacity but are still functional. Recent advancements in Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology have led to the unearthing of different types of small and large non-coding RNAs in plants. Non-coding RNAs are broadly categorised into housekeeping ncRNAs and regulatory ncRNAs which work at transcriptional, post-transcriptional and epigenetic levels. Diverse ncRNAs play different regulatory roles in nearly all biological processes including growth, development and response to changing environments. This response can be perceived and counteracted by plants using diverse evolutionarily conserved ncRNAs like miRNAs, siRNAs and lncRNAs to participate in complex molecular regimes by activating gene-ncRNA-mRNA regulatory modules to perform the downstream function. Here, we review the current understanding with a focus on recent advancements in the functional studies of the regulatory ncRNAs at the nexus of abiotic stresses and development. Also, the potential roles of ncRNAs in imparting abiotic stress tolerance and yield improvement in crop plants are also discussed with their future prospects.

The Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)- CRISPR-associated protein (Cas)-mediated genome editing is a recently developed gene editing technology, which has transformed functional and applied genomics. This technology is precise, cost-efficient, and rapid than other previously developed genome editing tools such as Meganucleases (MNs), Zinc-Finger Nucleases (ZFNs) and Transcription Activator-Like Effector Nucleases (TALENs). The CRISPR-Cas9 system is widely exploited for developing plants with enhanced tolerance towards various environmental stresses, resistance against pathogens, improved yield and nutritional superiority. The method is robustly applied to alter both DNA and RNA at specific target regions. The availability of well annotated genome sequence and an efficient genetic transformation system may open numerous possibilities to gain desirable traits in crop plants employing CRISPR-Cas-mediated genome editing technology. In this chapter, we summarized the basics of CRISPR-Cas technology, various kinds of CRISPR systems and their associated Cas proteins, application in generating abiotic and biotic stress tolerant crops, and bottlenecks of CRISPR-Cas systems.

A total of 104 foxtail millet accessions were evaluated for 11 nutrients in three environments and 67 high-confidence marker–trait associations (MTAs) were identified. Six SNPs showed pleiotropic effect and associated with two or more nutrients, whereas 24 candidate genes were identified for 28 MTAs involving seven traits. Millets are known for their better nutritional profiles compared to major cereals. Foxtail millet (Setaria italica) is rich in nutrients essential to circumvent malnutrition and hidden hunger. However, the genetic determinants underlying this trait remain elusive. In this context, we evaluated 104 diverse foxtail millet accessions in three different environments (E1, E2, and E3) for 11 nutrients and genotyped with 30K SNPs. The genome-wide association study showed 67 high-confidence (Bonferroni-corrected) marker–trait associations (MTAs) for the nutrients except for phosphorus. Six pleiotropic SNPs were also identified, which were associated with two or more nutrients. Around 24 candidate genes (CGs) were identified for 28 MTAs involving seven nutrients. A total of 17 associated SNPs were present within the gene region, and five (5) were mapped in the exon of the CGs. Significant SNPs, desirable alleles and CGs identified in the present study will be useful in breeding programmes for trait improvement.

Foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.) is a small millet predominantly cultivated in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. India is the second-largest producer of foxtail millet, next to China, and the crop has importance in the history and civilization of the human race in these two countries. Although the foxtail millet was widely cultivated in the ancient era, it has lost its importance with time and became a marginally grown crop catering to the nutritional requirements of a limited population. Despite this, the crop has excellent yield contributing to agronomic traits along with climate-resilient characteristics. Being a C4 panicoid species with a small diploid genome, short lifecycle, in-breeding nature, and close relationship with biofuel grasses, foxtail millet has recently been considered as a C4 model crop to understand several agronomically important traits, including stress tolerance. Given the importance, the genome sequence of foxtail millet and green foxtail (S. viridis) is now available. The postgenome era has seen several crop studies, which provided extensive genetic and genomic resources for crop improvement. Studies including genetic and genomic dissection of nutritional traits, response to biotic and abiotic stresses, water-use and nitrogen-use efficiencies, biofuel traits, and deciphering the photosynthetic machinery have provided insights into the novel genes and pathways underlying the individual traits. This has also provided a roadmap for deploying similar studies in other millets using foxtail millet as a model. In this context, the chapter describes the botany, nutritional significance, global distribution, and production technologies being implemented in foxtail millet cultivation. The chapter also summarizes the outcomes of the studies being pursued to decode complex traits and provide a roadmap for executing similar work in other millet crops.

Industrialization and other man-made actions caused accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmospheric troposphere layer, leading to enhanced greenhouse effect and hike in average global temperature in response. This led to unpredicted and frequent occurrences of rainfall, droughts, floods, and other climatic events. Changing climate has imposed direct abiotic stresses leading severe threat to global crop production either directly (morpho-physio-chemical effects) or indirectly (socioeconomic effects) and caused food insecurity worldwide. Moreover, these climate change effects are predicted to become more severe in the future. So, to ensure the global food security, development of climate-smart crops is an urgent need. Biotechnology-based approaches have paved the way to understand the role of different genes and their applications to achieve climate change induced stress tolerance and developed crops for sustainable agriculture in the present scenario. Keeping this in mind, the present book chapter briefs about the effect of climate change on crop growth, development, and yield, as well as plant responses and adaptations during changing environments. This chapter also discusses different strategies implied to combat the climate change and highlights the integrative-omics based approach and biotechnological strategies, as well as their advancements toward generating the climate-smart crops.

Kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum L.) is a small millet species known for its excellent nutritional and climate-resilient traits. To understand the genes and pathways underlying dehydration stress tolerance of kodo millet, the transcriptome of cultivar 'CO3' subjected to dehydration stress (0 h, 3 h, and 6 h) was sequenced. The study generated 239.1 million clean reads that identified 9201, 9814, and 2346 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in 0 h vs. 3 h, 0 h vs. 6 h, and 3 h vs. 6 h libraries, respectively. The DEGs were found to be associated with vital molecular pathways, including hormone metabolism and signaling, antioxidant scavenging, photosynthesis, and cellular metabolism, and were validated using qRT-PCR. Also, a higher abundance of uncharacterized genes expressed during stress warrants further studies to characterize this class of genes to understand their role in dehydration stress response. Altogether, the study provides insights into the transcriptomic response of kodo millet during dehydration stress.