About this Research Topic
Millets have a history of domestication and cultivation that spans the last 10,000 years. Millets are drought tolerant, pest resistant crops that are usually cultivated in degraded and marginal lands with minimal rainfall and generally poor soil nutrient content. Millets are nutritionally superior to other cereal crops like rice and wheat owing to its higher amount of protein, dietary fiber, iron, zinc, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, vitamin B, and essential amino acids.
Globally, cultivated millet varieties include finger millet, pearl millet, foxtail millet, barnyard millet, proso millet, Kodo millet, and little millet. Millet has been introduced to our daily diets due to its nutritionally rich nature that can help fight diseases like obesity, diabetes, coronary diseases, gastrointestinal disorders, and risk of colon, breast, and oesophageal cancer, which can be attributed to our overdependence on cereals and sedentary lifestyles. Moreover, with the escalating global phenomenon of climate change, the yield of major staple cereal crops has drastically reduced, thus paving the way for the introduction of millets into our agricultural production system to formulate climate-resilient cropping systems, as millets are C4 plants with better photosynthetic efficiency, short duration, higher dry matter production capacity, and a high degree of tolerance to heat and drought.
With the advantages that millets possess, a considerable amount of effort is being applied for the collection, conservation, and utilization of millet germplasm in breeding programs. Of late, several private and government agencies have ventured into the value addition of millets to manufacture food and non-food products. Since the year 2023 will be recognized as the ‘International Year of Millets’ by the UN, there have been many recent innovations carried out in agricultural practices, both in pre-and post-harvest technologies, application, and value additions, along with a focus on by-product utilization. There is still potential and scope to explore and investigate these innovations, current shortcomings, and future challenges, particularly concerning human health, nutrition, and sustainability.
We envision that this Research Topic will cover the following topics:
• Agricultural and functional characteristics of millets;
• Recent advances in sustainable postharvest processing technologies for millets;
• Value addition and nutrition using millets;
• By-product utilization of millets.
Thus, this Research Topic will explore, convey and showcase our effort in critically reviewing the key concepts for understanding the agricultural practices as well as the recent sustainable processing technology trends encompassing individual technologies, value-added products, nutritional changes involved, and finally the utilization of by-products obtained during pre-and post-harvest processing of millets.
Globally, cultivated millet varieties include finger millet, pearl millet, foxtail millet, barnyard millet, proso millet, Kodo millet, and little millet. Millet has been introduced to our daily diets due to its nutritionally rich nature that can help fight diseases like obesity, diabetes, coronary diseases, gastrointestinal disorders, and risk of colon, breast, and oesophageal cancer, which can be attributed to our overdependence on cereals and sedentary lifestyles. Moreover, with the escalating global phenomenon of climate change, the yield of major staple cereal crops has drastically reduced, thus paving the way for the introduction of millets into our agricultural production system to formulate climate-resilient cropping systems, as millets are C4 plants with better photosynthetic efficiency, short duration, higher dry matter production capacity, and a high degree of tolerance to heat and drought.
With the advantages that millets possess, a considerable amount of effort is being applied for the collection, conservation, and utilization of millet germplasm in breeding programs. Of late, several private and government agencies have ventured into the value addition of millets to manufacture food and non-food products. Since the year 2023 will be recognized as the ‘International Year of Millets’ by the UN, there have been many recent innovations carried out in agricultural practices, both in pre-and post-harvest technologies, application, and value additions, along with a focus on by-product utilization. There is still potential and scope to explore and investigate these innovations, current shortcomings, and future challenges, particularly concerning human health, nutrition, and sustainability.
We envision that this Research Topic will cover the following topics:
• Agricultural and functional characteristics of millets;
• Recent advances in sustainable postharvest processing technologies for millets;
• Value addition and nutrition using millets;
• By-product utilization of millets.
Thus, this Research Topic will explore, convey and showcase our effort in critically reviewing the key concepts for understanding the agricultural practices as well as the recent sustainable processing technology trends encompassing individual technologies, value-added products, nutritional changes involved, and finally the utilization of by-products obtained during pre-and post-harvest processing of millets.
Keywords: millet, millet germplasm, postharvest processing, finger millet, foxtail millet, barnyard millet, Kodo millet, by-product utilization
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