Research Projects

Millets, which have been traditional staples in India for centuries, experienced a decline in prominence following the green revolution (GR) when the focus shifted towards high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice in identified GR regions, leading to their marginalization. Millets are especially important in the semiarid tropics where other food crops struggle to grow due to low rainfall and poor soil fertility. Moreover, millets possess higher nutrient content compared to major cereal crops, making them crucial for achieving food and nutrition security (SDG-1, 2, and 12). Cereal crops naturally exhibit low concentrations of zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) in their grains. Cultivating them on soils that are deficient in plant-available Zn and Fe compounds exacerbates the problem, resulting in reduced crop yield and diminished grain Zn and Fe concentrations. Notably, approximately half of cereal-cultivating soils worldwide suffer from plant-available Zn deficiency. Finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.) genotypes for resistance to zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) deficiency present a viable long-term solution to address soil deficiencies of these micronutrients. However, the breeding process for developing such genotypes is time-consuming and requires relatively higher investments compared to agronomic biofortification (Stein et al., 2007). In the short term, fertilization with Zn and Fe is a common practice to combat deficiencies. Agronomic biofortification through soil application of Zn and Fe fertilizers is a frequently employed strategy to address crop deficiencies. Zinc sulphate (ZnSO4) and ferrous sulphate (FeSO4) are widely used as Zn and Fe fertilizer sources due to their high solubility in water and availability in crystalline and granular forms. Improved nutrient management strategies, including optimized fertilizer application, utilization of organic amendments, and incorporation of soil amendments, have the potential to enhance nutrient availability for millet crops. Implementing such strategies can lead to improvements in yield, nutritional quality, and overall sustainability of millet production. This project proposal aims to characterize the shoot and root responses of selected genotypes under different Fe and Zn levels. Our hypothesis is (i) low Fe and Zn soil supply will induce Fe and Zn stress, resulting in reduced shoot growth but stimulating root growth; (ii) Fe and Zn-efficient genotypes will adapt to Fe and Zn environments by modifying root architecture and enhancing Fe and Zn utilization efficiency; (iii) analyzing multiple traits and their ratios under deficient and sufficient Fe and Zn will provide a more precise assessment of variation in tolerance and efficiency among genotypes.