Land Cover Change and Its Impact in Crop Yield: A Case Study from Western Nepal.

This study was conducted in Tanahun district of Gandaki Province, Nepal, to analyze the land cover change over two decades, the migration effect in land cover, and the impact caused in crop production by Rhesus macaque. Landsat TM/ETM+ for land use of 2000 and 2010 extracted by ICIMOD and Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS satellite images for land cover 2019 were downloaded from the USGS website. A purposive sample for household survey was carried out based on crops damaged by the monkey. Two hundred and fifty households were taken as samples. The Landsat images were analyzed by ArcGIS, and the social data were analyzed using SPSS and MS Excel. Land cover change data revealed increment of forest cover from 36.57% to 40.91% and drastic decrease in agriculture crops from 57.52% to 43.78% in the period of 20 years. The accuracy of the data showed overall classification accuracy of 86.11%, 81.08%, and 75% with overall kappa statistics 0.83, 0.77, and 0.74, respectively. The migration effect in the land cover was related to remittance and migrated members and found a significant positive relationship. Analyzing the trend of production with an increase in the forest cover, 21% decrease in paddy, 5% decrease in maize, and 26% decrease in millet were found as compared to the production in 2000. The econometric model concluded that the quantity of crop damage was negatively significant in relation to distance from forest and distance from water body while positively significant to distance from settlements and distance from owner's home. The quantity of crop damage was estimated 113.89 kg per household, and the cost was 78.82 USD. This study recommends active forest management; regular thinning, and weeding. Remittance generated should be invested in the agriculture field by the households. Damage relief should be made available for the damage cost by Rhesus macaque.

A forecast of staple crop production in Burkina Faso to enable early warnings of shortages in domestic food availability.

Almost half of the Burkinabe population is moderately or severely affected by food insecurity. With climate change, domestic food production may become more under pressure, further jeopardizing food security. In this study, we focus on the production of maize, sorghum and millet as staple cereal crops in Burkina Faso to assess food availability as one component of food security. Based on a statistical weather-driven crop model, we provide a within-season forecast of crop production 1 month before the harvest. Hindcast results from 1984 to 2018 produce an r2 of 0.95 in case of known harvest areas and an r2 of 0.88 when harvest areas are modelled instead. We compare actually supplied calories with those usually consumed from staple crops, allowing us to provide early information on shortages in domestic cereal production on the national level. Despite the-on average-sufficient domestic cereal production from maize, sorghum and millet, a considerable level of food insecurity prevails for large parts of the population. We suggest to consider such forecasts as an early warning signal for shortages in domestic staple crop production and encourage a comprehensive assessment of all dimensions of food security to rapidly develop counteractions for looming food crises.

Vulnerability of maize, millet, and rice yields to growing season precipitation and socio-economic proxies in Cameroon.

In sub-Saharan Africa growing season precipitation is affected by climate change. Due to this, in Cameroon, it is uncertain how some crops are vulnerable to growing season precipitation. Here, an assessment of the vulnerability of maize, millet, and rice to growing season precipitation is carried out at a national scale and validated at four sub-national scales/sites. The data collected were historical yield, precipitation, and adaptive capacity data for the period 1961-2019 for the national scale analysis and 1991-2016 for the sub-national scale analysis. The crop yield data were collected for maize, millet, and rice from FAOSTAT and the global yield gap atlas to assess the sensitivity both nationally and sub-nationally. Historical data on mean crop growing season and mean annul precipitation were collected from a collaborative database of UNDP/Oxford University and the climate portal of the World Bank to assess the exposure both nationally and sub-nationally. To assess adaptive capacity, literacy, and poverty rate proxies for both the national and regional scales were collected from KNOEMA and the African Development Bank. These data were analyzed using a vulnerability index that is based on sensitivity, exposure, and adaptive capacity. The national scale results show that millet has the lowest vulnerability index while rice has the highest. An inverse relationship between vulnerability and adaptive capacity is observed. Rice has the lowest adaptive capacity and the highest vulnerability index. Sub-nationally, this work has shown that northern maize is the most vulnerable crop followed by western highland rice. This work underscores the fact that at different scales, crops are differentially vulnerable due to variations in precipitation, temperature, soils, access to farm inputs, exposure to crop pest and variations in literacy and poverty rates. Therefore, caution should be taken when transitioning from one scale to another to avoid generalization. Despite these differences, in the sub-national scale, western highland rice is observed as the second most vulnerable crop, an observation similar to the national scale observation.

Alternative Strategies for Multi-Stress Tolerance and Yield Improvement in Millets.

Millets are important cereal crops cultivated in arid and semiarid regions of the world, particularly Africa and southeast Asia. Climate change has triggered multiple abiotic stresses in plants that are the main causes of crop loss worldwide, reducing average yield for most crops by more than 50%. Although millets are tolerant to most abiotic stresses including drought and high temperatures, further improvement is needed to make them more resilient to unprecedented effects of climate change and associated environmental stresses. Incorporation of stress tolerance traits in millets will improve their productivity in marginal environments and will help in overcoming future food shortage due to climate change. Recently, approaches such as application of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs) have been used to improve growth and development, as well as stress tolerance of crops. Moreover, with the advance of next-generation sequencing technology, genome editing, using the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR/Cas9) system are increasingly used to develop stress tolerant varieties in different crops. In this paper, the innate ability of millets to tolerate abiotic stresses and alternative approaches to boost stress resistance were thoroughly reviewed. Moreover, several stress-resistant genes were identified in related monocots such as rice (Oryza sativa), wheat (Triticum aestivum), and maize (Zea mays), and other related species for which orthologs in millets could be manipulated by CRISPR/Cas9 and related genome-editing techniques to improve stress resilience and productivity. These cutting-edge alternative strategies are expected to bring this group of orphan crops at the forefront of scientific research for their potential contribution to global food security.

Improvement of nutrient bioavailability in millets: Emphasis on the application of enzymes.

Millets are a traditional staple food of the dryland regions of the world and are rich in essential nutrients like protein, fatty acids, minerals, vitamins, and dietary fiber. Also, millets commonly synthesize a range of secondary metabolites to protect themselves against adverse conditions. These factors are collectively termed anti-nutritional factors and the existence of these factors in millets might reduce the accessibility of the nutrients in humans. Some of these factors include protease inhibitors, tannins, non-starch polysaccharides-glucans, phytates, and oxalates each of which might directly or indirectly affect the digestibility of nutrients. Methods like soaking, germination, autoclaving, debranning, and the addition of exogenous enzymes have been used to reduce the anti-nutritional factors and elevate the bioavailability of the nutrients. This review summarizes various methods that have been used to improve nutrient bioavailability, specifically emphasizing the use of enzymes to improve nutrient bioavailability from millets. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Southwest Asian cereal crops facilitated high-elevation agriculture in the central Tien Shan during the mid-third millennium BCE.

We report the earliest and the most abundant archaeobotanical assemblage of southwest Asian grain crops from Early Bronze Age Central Asia, recovered from the Chap II site in Kyrgyzstan. The archaeobotanical remains consist of thousands of cultivated grains dating to the mid-late third millennium BCE. The recovery of cereal chaff and weeds suggest local cultivation at 2000 m.a.s.l., as crops first spread to the mountains of Central Asia. The site's inhabitants possibly cultivated two types of free-threshing wheats, glume wheats, and hulled and naked barleys. Highly compact caryopses of wheat and barley grains represent distinct morphotypes of cereals adapted to highland environments. While additional macrobotanical evidence is needed to confirm the presence of glume wheats at Chap II, the possible identification of glume wheats at Chap II may represent their most eastern distribution in Central Asia. Based on the presence of weed species, we argue that the past environment of Chap II was characterized by an open mountain landscape, where animal grazing likely took place, which may have been further modified by people irrigating agricultural fields. This research suggests that early farmers in the mountains of Central Asia cultivated compact morphotypes of southwest Asian crops during the initial eastward dispersal of agricultural technologies, which likely played a critical role in shaping montane adaptations and dynamic interaction networks between farming societies across highland and lowland cultivation zones.

Modifying the dough mixing behavior, protein & starch digestibility and antinutritional profile of minor millets by sprouting.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of sprouting (0, 12, 24, 36, 48 hr) on enzyme activity, protein solubility, dough mixing behavior, anti-nutritional components and in vitro starch and protein digestibility of minor millets. Sprouting decreased starch, fat, protein and ash contents while the dietary fiber content, amylase and protease activity significantly (p < 0.05) increased. Sprouting promoted a significant (p < 0.05) decrease in anti-nutritonal components like phytic acid and condensed tannin. The protein solubility enhanced that also resulted in improved protein digestibility (in vitro) of sprouted millets. Sprouting exerted a significant (p < 0.05) effect on mixolab dough rheology indicating a decrease in dough consistency (C1), peak and final viscosity whilst protein weakening and breakdown increased (p < 0.05). This process produced an increase in free glucose thereby improving rapidly digestible starch and increasing glycemic index. A significant (p < 0.05) reduction in resistant starch along with slowly digestible starch was promoted during sprouting. In conclusion, sprouting provides millet flours with modified nutritional quality and better technofunctional properties than the raw flours that may suggest their potential utilization in complementary food formulations and baked products.

Evidence of crop production losses in West Africa due to historical global warming in two crop models.

Achieving food security goals in West Africa will depend on the capacity of the agricultural sector to feed the rapidly growing population and to moderate the adverse impacts of climate change. Indeed, a number of studies anticipate a reduction of the crop yield of the main staple food crops in the region in the coming decades due to global warming. Here, we found that crop production might have already been affected by climate change, with significant yield losses estimated in the historical past. We used a large ensemble of historical climate simulations derived from an atmospheric general circulation model and two process-based crop models, SARRA-H and CYGMA, to evaluate the effects of historical climate change on crop production in West Africa. We generated two ensembles of 100 historical simulations of yields of sorghum and millet corresponding to two climate conditions for each crop model. One ensemble is based on a realistic simulation of the actual climate, while the other is based on a climate simulation that does not account for human influences on climate systems (that is, the non-warming counterfactual climate condition). We found that the last simulated decade, 2000-2009, is approximately 1 °C warmer in West Africa in the ensemble accounting for human influences on climate, with more frequent heat and rainfall extremes. These altered climate conditions have led to regional average yield reductions of 10-20% for millet and 5-15% for sorghum in the two crop models. We found that the average annual production losses across West Africa in 2000-2009 associated with historical climate change, relative to a non-warming counterfactual condition (that is, pre-industrial climate), accounted for 2.33-4.02 billion USD for millet and 0.73-2.17 billion USD for sorghum. The estimates of production losses presented here can be a basis for the loss and damage associated with climate change to date and useful in estimating the costs of the adaptation of crop production systems in the region.

Sedentism and plant cultivation in northeast China emerged during affluent conditions.

The reasons and processes that led hunter-gatherers to transition into a sedentary and agricultural way of life are a fundamental unresolved question of human history. Here we present results of excavations of two single-occupation early Neolithic sites (dated to 7.9 and 7.4 ka) and two high-resolution archaeological surveys in northeast China, which capture the earliest stages of sedentism and millet cultivation in the second oldest center of domestication in the Old World. The transition to sedentism coincided with a significant transition to wetter conditions in north China, at 8.1-7.9 ka. We suggest that these wetter conditions were an empirical precondition that facilitated the complex transitional process to sedentism and eventually millet domestication in north China. Interestingly, sedentism and plant domestication followed different trajectories. The sedentary way of life and cultural norms evolved rapidly, within a few hundred years, we find complex sedentary villages inhabiting the landscape. However, the process of plant domestication, progressed slowly over several millennia. Our earliest evidence for the beginning of the domestication process appear in the context of an already complex sedentary village (late Xinglongwa culture), a half millennia after the onset of cultivation, and even in this phase domesticated plants and animals were rare, suggesting that the transition to domesticated (sensu stricto) plants in affluent areas might have not played a substantial role in the transition to sedentary societies.

Phosphate supply influenced the growth, yield and expression of PHT1 family phosphate transporters in seven millets.

MAIN CONCLUSION: Phosphate starvation altered the root morphology and phosphate uptake with the induction of PHT1 family transporter genes in root and shoot tissues of seven millets. Millets are nutrient-rich cereals majorly cultivated in Asia and Africa. Foxtail millet (FoxM), pearl millet (PeaM), finger millet (FinM), kodo millet (KodM), little millet (LitM), proso millet (ProM), and barnyard millet (BarM) were examined for the influence of external phosphorous (P) supply on phenotypic traits, P uptake, yield, and PHosphate Transporter1 (PHT1) family gene expression. Millet seedlings grown under low Pi condition (LPC) produced significantly lower mean values for all traits except for lateral root length (LRL) and lateral root number (LRN) which were increased under LPC. Under LPC, seed weight (SW) also reduced by > 75% and had significantly lower levels of total P (TP) and Pi contents in leaf and root tissues. Expression dynamics of 12 PHT1 family (PHT1;1-1;12) transporters genes were analyzed in 7 millets. PHT1;2 has been found to be a constitutive transporter gene in all millets. Under LPC, root tissues showed the overexpression of PHT1;2, 1;3, 1;4 and 1;9 in FoxM, PHT1;1, 1;2, 1;3, 1;4, 1;8 and 1;10 in PeaM, PHT1;2 and 1;3 in FinM and ProM and PHT1;3, 1;6 and 1;11 in BarM. In leaf, LPC induced the expression of PHT1;3, 1;4 and 1;6 in FoxM, PHT1;2, 1;3, 1;4 and 1;8 in PeaM, PHT1;2, 1;3 and 1;4 in FinM and KodM, PHT1;2 in LitM and PHT1;4 in ProM and BarnM. This comprehensive study on the influence of P in phenotype, physiology, and molecular responses may help to improve the P uptake and its use efficiency of millets in future.

Intensification in pastoralist cereal use coincides with the expansion of trans-regional networks in the Eurasian Steppe.

The pace of transmission of domesticated cereals, including millet from China as well as wheat and barley from southwest Asia, throughout the vast pastoralist landscapes of the Eurasian Steppe (ES) is unclear. The rich monumental record of the ES preserves abundant human remains that provide a temporally deep and spatially broad record of pastoralist dietary intake. Calibration of human δ13C and δ15N values against isotope ratios derived from co-occurring livestock distinguish pastoralist consumption of millet from the products of livestock and, in some regions, identify a considerable reliance by pastoralists on C3 crops. We suggest that the adoption of millet was initially sporadic and consumed at low intensities during the Bronze Age, with the low-level consumption of millet possibly taking place in the Minusinsk Basin perhaps as early as the late third millennium cal BC. Starting in the mid-second millennium cal BC, millet consumption intensified dramatically throughout the ES with the exception of both the Mongolian steppe where millet uptake was strongly delayed until the end of first millennium cal BC and the Trans-Urals where instead barley or wheat gained dietary prominence. The emergence of complex, trans-regional political networks likely facilitated the rapid transfer of cultivars across the steppe during the transition to the Iron Age.

Assessing climate change impacts on pearl millet under arid and semi-arid environments using CSM-CERES-Millet model.

Climate change adversely affects food security all over the world, especially in developing countries where the increasing population is confronting food insecurity and malnutrition. Crop models can assist stakeholders for assessment of climate change in current and future agricultural production systems. The aim of this study was to use of system analysis approach through CSM-CERES-Millet model to quantify climate change and its impact on pearl millet under arid and semi-arid climatic conditions of Punjab, Pakistan. Calibration and evaluation of CERES-Millet were performed with the field observations for pearl millet hybrid 86M86. Mid-century (2040-2069) climate change scenarios for representative concentration pathway (RCP) 4.5 and RCP 8.5 were generated based on an ensemble of selected five general circulation models (GCMs). The model was calibrated with optimum treatment (15-cm plant spacing and 200 kg N ha-1) using field observations on phenology, growth and grain yield. Thereafter, pearl millet cultivar was evaluated with remaining treatments of plant spacing and nitrogen during 2015 and 2016 in Faisalabad and Layyah. The CERES-Millet model was calibrated very well and predicted the grain yield with 1.14% error. Model valuation results showed that there was a close agreement between the observed and simulated values of grain yield with RMSE ranging from 172 to 193 kg ha-1. The results of future climate scenarios revealed that there would be an increase in Tmin (2.8 °C and 2.9 °C, respectively, for the semi-arid and arid environment) and Tmax (2.5 °C and 2.7 °C, respectively, for the semi-arid and arid environment) under RCP4.5. For RCP8.5, there would be an increase of 4 °C in Tmin for the semi-arid and arid environment and an increase of 3.7 °C and 3.9 °C in Tmax, respectively, for the semi-arid and arid environment. The impacts of climate changes showed that pearl millet yield would be reduced by 7 to 10% under RCPs 4.5 and 8.5 in Faisalabad and 10 to 13% in Layyah under RCP 4.5 and 8.5 for mid-century. So, CSM-CERES-Millet is a useful tool in assessing the climate change impacts.

Critical role of climate change in plant selection and millet domestication in North China.

While North China is one of the earliest independent centers for cereal domestication in the world, the earliest stages of the long process of agricultural origins remain unclear. While only millets were eventually domesticated in early sedentary societies there, recent archaeobotanical evidence reported here indicates that grasses from the Paniceae (including millets) and Triticeae tribes were exploited together by foraging groups from the Last Glacial Maximum to the mid-Holocene. Here we explore how and why millets were selected for domestication while Triticeae were abandoned. We document the different exploitation and cultivation trajectories of the two tribes employing ancient starch data derived from nine archaeological sites dating from 25,000 to 5500 cal BP (LGM through mid-Holocene) in North China. With this diachronic overview, we can place the trajectories into the context of paleoclimatic reconstructions for this period. Entering the Holocene, climatic changes increased the yield stability, abundance, and availability of the wild progenitors of millets, with growing conditions increasingly favoring millets while becoming more unfavorable for grasses of the Triticeae tribe. We thus hypothesize that climate change played a critical role in the selection of millet species for domestication in North China, with early domestication evidenced by 8700 cal BP.

Metabolic variation and cooking qualities of millet cultivars grown both organically and conventionally.

Millet plays a major role in food security in Africa and Asia. In addition to being a rich source of nutrients, millet contains many phytochemicals that are potentially beneficial for human health, and several of these compounds are related to its cooking properties. In this study, 172 metabolites and 3 cooking quality traits of millet from the same two cultivars grown both organically and conventionally were analyzed. The results indicated that the differences in the metabolities and cooking quality of the millets could be attributed mostly to the cultivar and whether the millet was grown conventionally or organically. Organic growing conditions only enhanced the accumulation of some carbohydrates such as fructose and glucose. Therefore, cultivar selection was important in organic millet cultivation. The relationships between metabolites and cooking quality traits showed that, overall, 57.43% of the variation in the cooking quality matrix was explained by metabolome matrix, which indicated that some chemical compounds could also be used to evaluate the cooking qualities of millet. These results could contribute to breeding millet to improve its the nutritional properties and cooking qualities.

Iron and zinc bioaccessibility of fermented maize, sorghum and millets from five locations in Zimbabwe.

The present study is an evaluation of iron and zinc bioaccessibility of fermented maize, sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet from five different locations in Zimbabwe. Iron and zinc contents ranged between 3.22 and 49.7 and 1.25-4.39mg/100gdm, respectively. Fermentation caused a reduction of between 20 and 88% of phytic acid (PA) while a general increase in soluble phenolic compounds (PC) and a decrease of the bound (PC) was observed. Bioaccessibility of iron and zinc ranged between 2.77 and 26.1% and 0.45-12.8%, respectively. The contribution of the fermented cereals towards iron and zinc absolute requirements ranged between 25 and 411% and 0.5-23% with higher contribution of iron coming from cereals that were contaminated with extrinsic iron. Populations subsisting on cereals could be more at risk of zinc rather than iron deficiency.

Indigenous endophytic seed bacteria promote seedling development and defend against fungal disease in browntop millet (Urochloa ramosa L.).

AIMS: This study was conducted to investigate indigenous seed endophyte effects on browntop millet seedling development. We report that seed-inhabiting bacterial endophytes are responsible for promoting seedling development, including stimulation of root hair formation, increasing root and shoot length growth and increasing photosynthetic pigment content of seedlings. Bacterial endophytes also improved resistance of seedlings to disease. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of four endophytic bacteria were isolated from surface-sterilized seeds and identified by 16S rDNA sequencing as Curtobacterium sp. (M1), Microbacterium sp. (M2), Methylobacterium sp. (M3) and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (M4). Removal of bacteria with streptomycin treatment from the seeds compromised seedling growth and development. When endophytes were reinoculated onto seeds, seedlings recovered normal development. Strains M3 and M4 were found to be most potent in promoting growth of seedlings. Bacteria were found to produce auxin, solubilize phosphate and inhibit fungal pathogens. Significant protection of seedlings from Fusarium infection was found using strain M4 in microcosm assays. The antifungal lipopeptide genes for surfactin and iturin were detected in M4; culture extracts of M4 showed a positive drop collapse result for surfactins. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that browntop millet seeds vector indigenous endophytes that are responsible for modulation of seedling development and protection of seedlings from fungal disease. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This study is significant and original in that it is the first report of seed-inhabiting endophytes of browntop millet that influence seedling development and function in defence against soilborne pathogens. This study suggests that conservation and management of seed-vectored endophytes may be important in development of more sustainable agricultural practices.

Identification of putative QTLs for seedling stage phosphorus starvation response in finger millet (Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn.) by association mapping and cross species synteny analysis.

A germplasm assembly of 128 finger millet genotypes from 18 countries was evaluated for seedling-stage phosphorus (P) responses by growing them in P sufficient (Psuf) and P deficient (Pdef) treatments. Majority of the genotypes showed adaptive responses to low P condition. Based on phenotype behaviour using the best linear unbiased predictors for each trait, genotypes were classified into, P responsive, low P tolerant and P non-responsive types. Based on the overall phenotype performance under Pdef, 10 genotypes were identified as low P tolerants. The low P tolerant genotypes were characterised by increased shoot and root length and increased root hair induction with longer root hairs under Pdef, than under Psuf. Association mapping of P response traits using mixed linear models revealed four quantitative trait loci (QTLs). Two QTLs (qLRDW.1 and qLRDW.2) for low P response affecting root dry weight explained over 10% phenotypic variation. In silico synteny analysis across grass genomes for these QTLs identified putative candidate genes such as Ser-Thr kinase and transcription factors such as WRKY and basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH). The QTLs for response under Psuf were mapped for traits such as shoot dry weight (qHSDW.1) and root length (qHRL.1). Putative associations of these QTLs over the syntenous regions on the grass genomes revealed proximity to cytochrome P450, phosphate transporter and pectin methylesterase inhibitor (PMEI) genes. This is the first report of the extent of phenotypic variability for P response in finger millet genotypes during seedling-stage, along with the QTLs and putative candidate genes associated with P starvation tolerance.

Effect of germination on the structures and physicochemical properties of starches from brown rice, oat, sorghum, and millet.

Four selected grains (brown rice, oat, sorghum, and millet) were subjected to germinate and changes in granule morphology, molecular structure, crystalline structure, and physicochemical properties of isolated starch were investigated. The germinated starches showed pits and holes on the surface of the starch granules and the particle size distributions shifted slightly to smaller size as the germination time increased. Germination led to decrease in amylose content, while molecular weights of the germinated starches showed no significant changes. The relative crystallinity of all selected grain starches decreased significantly during germination. Compared to the native starches, the germinated starches had lower retrogradation enthalpy. Brown rice and oat starches exhibited marginal increases in peak viscosities, whereas those of sorghum and millet starches decreased significantly during germination. Amylose leaching of brown rice and oat starches decreased after germination, whereas sorghum and millet starches showed an increase in amylose leaching.

Rates of return to sorghum and millet research investments: A meta-analysis.

Sorghum and millet grow in some of the most heterogeneous and austere agroecologies around the world. These crops are amongst the top five cereal sources of food and feed. Yet, few studies document the impact of sorghum and millet genetic enhancement. The Internal Rate of Return (ROR) is one of the most popular metrics used to measure the economic return on investment on agricultural research and development (R&D). This study conducted a meta-analysis of 59 sorghum and millet ROR estimates obtained from 25 sources published between 1958 and 2015. The average rate of return to sorghum and millet R&D investment is between 54-76 percent per year. All studies computed social rather than private RORs because the technologies were developed using public funds originating from host country National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) and international organizations such as the INTSORMIL CRSP, ICRISAT and others. Nearly three quarter of the studies focused only on sorghum (72 percent) and around one tenth of the studies (8 percent) on millet. Regression models analyzed the determinants of variation in the reported RORs. Results show that ex-ante type and self-evaluated type of analyses are positively and significantly associated with the ROR estimates. Compared to estimates conducted by a university, results from international institutions and other mixed organizations provided significantly smaller estimates. Estimates conducted at national level also are significantly lower than those conducted at sub-national levels. The ROR is higher for studies conducted in the United States and for those conducted more recently. The study also reconstructed modified internal rate of return (MIRR) for a sub-sample of the reported RORs following recent methods from the literature. These results show that the MIRR estimates are significantly smaller than the reported ROR estimates. Both results indicate that investment in sorghum and millet research generates high social rates of return.

Loose Panicle1 encoding a novel WRKY transcription factor, regulates panicle development, stem elongation, and seed size in foxtail millet [Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv.].

Panicle development is an important agronomic trait that aids in determining crop productivity. Foxtail millet and its wild ancestor green foxtail have recently been used as model systems to dissect gene functions. Here, we characterized a recessive mutant of foxtail millet, loose-panicle 1 (lp1), which showed pleiotropic phenotypes, such as a lax primary branching pattern, aberrant branch morphology, semi-dwarfism, and enlarged seed size. The loose panicle phenotype was attributed to increased panicle lengths and decreased primary branch numbers. Map-based cloning, combined with high-throughput sequencing, revealed that LP1, which encodes a novel WRKY transcription factor, is responsible for the mutant phenotype. A phylogenetic analysis revealed that LP1 belongs to the Group I WRKY subfamily, which possesses two WRKY domains (WRKY I and II). A single G-to-A transition in the fifth intron of LP1 resulted in three disorganized splicing events in mutant plants. For each of these aberrant splice variants, the normal C2H2 motif in the WRKY II domain was completely disrupted, resulting in a loss-of-function mutation. LP1 mRNA was expressed in all of the tissues examined, with higher expression levels observed in inflorescences, roots, and seeds at the grain-filling stage. A subcellular localization analysis showed that LP1 predominantly accumulated in the nucleus, which confirmed its role as a transcriptional regulator. This study provides novel insights into the roles of WRKY proteins in regulating reproductive organ development in plants and may help to develop molecular markers associated with crop yields.