Mapping Millet Genetics to Enable

Better Varieties for Farmers in

Developing Countries
By: ADITYARUP "RUP" CHAKRAVORTY, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF AGRONOMY
(NOVEMBER 6, 2019)

Proso millet growing in western Nebraska, which is believed to have been one of the
earliest domesticated crops. It’s grown in the developing world as a food source and in the US
and Europe for forage and bird seed. Credit: Santosh Rajput

In the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa, conditions can be difficult for crops. Plants need
to have short growing seasons, survive on poor soils and tolerate environmental stresses.

Enter, the millets.

Close to 97% of millets grown worldwide are produced in developing countries. Millets
are a diverse group of cereal crops. Importantly, they generally have high nutritional content.

“However, millets have been largely overlooked by modern genetics research,” says
Matthew Johnson, a researcher at the University of Georgia. In a new study, Johnson, along with
colleagues in India, have generated some of the first genetic resources for three different
varieties of millets.

As genetic resources are created for less-studied crops, researchers can better leverage
the genetic diversity within the crop family. This can lead to the development of new varieties of
crops. “Our results will give researchers tools to develop better millet varieties for farmers,” says
Johnson.

Kodo Millet
Kodo millet growing in India. Kodo millet is an orphaned crop that can produce food in
hot, dry environments. Credit: M. Vetriventhan

Most farmers who grow millets are smallholders (farming less than 5 acres). Millets are
crucial for their livelihood. That’s because they can grow on marginal lands and need less water
than most crops.

“Millets also grow much quicker than most other major crops,” says Johnson. That’s
important because farmers can plant millets if weather or natural disasters cause initial plantings
to fail. “So, with millets, the farmers can at least get some harvest,” he says.

Johnson’s team sequenced and analyzed DNA from three species of millets – kodo, little
and proso. “These are three crops that have had relatively few resources developed for them,”
Johnson explains.

The plant source materials were obtained from the International Crops Research Institute
for the Semi-Arid Tropics in India. The researchers’ goal was to better understand the genetic
diversity within and between each variety of millet. “Understanding this diversity is an important
step in developing better varieties of the crop,” says Johnson.

They uncovered tiny differences in the DNA sequences of the various plants. These
genetic differences may ultimately be connected to characteristics, such as drought tolerance
and growth rate.
Little Millet
Little millet growing in India. Little millet is an orphaned crop that can grow in hot, dry
climates. It’s valuable for regional food security. Credit: M. Vetriventhan

“Genetics and field testing go hand-in-hand,” says Johnson. Growing different kinds of
millets can provide information about yield and flowering time, among other characteristics. “We
need to pair these results with knowledge of the genetic relatedness of the millet plants,” he
says.

By collating field results and genetic data, researchers identify desired traits and develop
improved varieties. “We can continue improving these varieties year after year,” says Johnson.

An important part of breeding desirable varieties of a crop is understanding how existing

ones are related to each other. “We were able to find evidence that the previous understanding
of how the millet varieties are related to each other didn’t always reflect their genetics,” Johnson
explains.

The existing classifications were done based on physical characteristics. But it turns out
those may not be accurate reflections of close genetic relationships.

“Think of it as trying to classify genetic relationships among humans by hair color,” he

says. “Hair color is genetically controlled. Everyone with blonde hair, for example, has some
genetic relatedness.”

“But there is so much more than just hair color that determines who we are related to
genetically,” says Johnson. “Sometimes siblings can have a different hair color. However, they
will be more closely related to each other than to a stranger who happens to have the same hair
color.”

Uncovering the underlying genetics, as in this study, can help plant breeders develop
millet varieties with desired physical characteristics. “Millets are a great crop,” says Johnson. “I
believe they can diversify our diet and contribute to food sources and security as our climate
continues to change.”

REFERENCE:
O'Neill, M. (2019, November 7). Mapping Millet Genetics to Enable Better Varieties for Farmers
in Developing Countries. Retrieved from https://scitechdaily.com/mapping-millet-genetics-to-
enable-better-varieties-for-farmers-in-developing-countries/.
Plants and Fungi Together Could Slow
Climate Change by Removing CO2 From
the Atmosphere
By: INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
(NOVEMBER 7, 2019)

A new global assessment shows that human impacts have greatly reduced plant-fungus
symbioses, which play a key role in sequestering carbon in soils. Restoring these ecosystems
could be one strategy to slow climate change.
Human-induced transformations of Earth’s ecosystems have strongly affected
distribution patterns of plant-fungus symbioses known as mycorrhiza. These changes have
greatly reduced vegetation featuring a particular variety of mycorrhiza—ectomycorrhiza—a type
of plant-fungal symbiosis crucially important for soil carbon storage. The study, published today
(November 7, 2019) in the journal Nature Communications, shows that loss of ectomycorrhizal
symbiosis has reduced the ability of these ecosystems to sequester carbon in soils.
Most plant species form symbioses with various fungi, in which fungi provide plants with
nutrients, while the plants provide carbon to the fungi. Previous research has shown that these
relationships increase the potential of vegetation to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and
sequester it in soils. However, because of the complexity of these relationships and multiple
species involved, it has been difficult to estimate the global impact of such symbioses.
The study is the first to provide a global accounting of the distribution of mycorrhizal
vegetation across the planet along with estimates of their contribution to terrestrial carbon
stocks. Even with the loss of mycorrhizal symbioses, the study finds, that ecosystems
encompassing mycorrhizal vegetation store on the order of 350 gigatons of carbon globally,
compared to just 29 gigatons stored in non-mycorrhizal vegetation.
“Human activities such as agricultural practices have altered 50-75% of the Earth’s
terrestrial ecosystems, transforming natural areas with previously strong carbon sequestering
mycorrhizal plant-associations to much weaker relationships. By altering the plants that grow
across much of the Earth’s surface from those with strong soil carbon storage to weak carbon
storage we have potentially further contributed to increased atmospheric CO2,” says IIASA
researcher Ian McCallum, a study co-author.
This study identifies a potential mechanism that could be used to decrease atmospheric
CO2 via enhanced soil carbon storage. Restoring native vegetation that forms ectomycorrhizal
symbiosis with soil fungi, especially in abandoned agricultural and barren land, the authors say,
could help alleviate anthropogenic soil carbon losses and ameliorate increases in atmospheric
greenhouse gases.
“Among the pathways available to mankind to reach the atmospheric CO2 removal goals,
accumulation of carbon in vegetation and soil is one promising path, in which mycorrhizal
symbiosis plays a very important role. Our new detailed maps of mycorrhizal distribution across
the globe will allow for conscious policy design towards decreasing atmospheric CO2 by
sequestering carbon in soil and plants,” says lead author Nadejda Soudzilovskaia, a researcher at
Leiden University in the Netherlands.
REFERENCES:
O'Neill, M. (2019, November 7). Plants and Fungi Together Could Slow Climate Change by
Removing CO2 From the Atmosphere. Retrieved from https://scitechdaily.com/plants-and-fungi-
together-could-slow-climate-change-by-removing-co2-from-the-atmosphere/.