Millets: Nutrient-rich and climate-resilient crops for sustainable agriculture and diverse culinary applications

Abstract

Millets have been recognized for their health benefits, resilience in challenging environments, and versatility in cuisine, making them essential to global agriculture and foods. This review examines their phenology, stress responses, carbon footprint, biofortification, and diverse culinary applications. Millets adapt well to adverse climatic conditions, thriving in marginal lands with limited inputs. Their efficient root systems contribute to drought tolerance and efficient water use. Millets utilize complex biochemical and molecular mechanisms with antioxidant defense systems and regulating gene expression to enhance resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses. Transcription factors like WRKY, bZIP, and MYB regulate signaling networks, enhancing abiotic stress tolerance. Millets have a lower carbon footprint, with pearl millet and sorghum emitting 3218 kg CO2 eq/ha and 3358 kg CO2 eq/ha, respectively, versus 3700–9900 kg CO2 eq/ha for major cereals. Additionally, millets exhibit superior carbon sequestration, storing 499.6–4024.7 C mg/ha/year. Nutritionally, millets are powerhouses, rich in essential minerals and packed with dietary fiber and protein. Pearl millet contains 3–4 mg/100 g zinc and 4–8 mg/100 g iron, while finger millet contains 344 mg/100 g calcium. Biofortification efforts have shown promise in enhancing millet nutritional profiles through germplasm characterization, genomic approaches, conventional breeding, genetic engineering, and agronomic interventions. In culinary applications, millets are incorporated into a variety of value-added products. Future millet research should focus on leveraging genomic and breeding advancements like CRISPR-Cas tools to develop high-yielding, stress-tolerant varieties with improved traits. Biofortification efforts should aim to enhance nutritional profiles, reduce antinutritional factors, and explore the potential of underutilized millet species. Developing efficient processing technologies, particularly for small-scale operations, will be crucial for wider adoption and utilization of millets in various food applications. The integration of millets into sustainable food systems and climate-smart agriculture is crucial for enhancing food security and environmental sustainability.