Abstract
Plants having diverse profile in terms of nutrition, availability, tolerance to harsh climatic conditions and possibility of usages as food, forage and biofuel usually referred as Alternative plants. This article will only be focused on the plants having value to reinstate themselves as alternative food crop for the burgeoning population. Indigenous communities across the globe are familiar with a large diversity of flora and fauna that provide sustenance in form of food and medicine. The ‘plants for a future’ website reveals a list of more than 7000 underutilized species with different values (PFAF website). Most of these plants thrive well on impoverished or marginal soils and dry weather conditions. Millets, Buckwheat, Oats, and Chenopods are coming up as imperative nutritious option. The multipurpose use of Millets, Buckwheat, Oats, Chenopods and Barley coupled with early maturity, low nutrient demand and ability to adapt well to marginal and degraded lands makes them an ideal crop for future sustainable agriculture.
Highlights
Need for alternative food cropsHovering fear of losing well domesticated crop plants due to natural disaster, heavy socio-economic pressure on a few crops and estimated population growth i.e 8.5 billion by 2025 [1] are the valid reasons to be ready to prepare and grow other staple crops, which are equivalent to existing staple crops [2]
Millets grown in India are sorghum (Jowar), pearl millet (Bajra), finger millet (Ragi) and many other small millets viz., Kodo millet, Foxtail millet, Little millet, Proso millet and Barnyard millet
Chenopodium quinoa Wild. is an Amaranthacean, stress-tolerant plant cultivated along the Andes for the last 7000 years, in highly challenging different environmental conditions ranging from Bolivia, up to 4.500 m of altitude, to sea level, in Chile
Summary
Hovering fear of losing well domesticated crop plants due to natural disaster, heavy socio-economic pressure on a few crops and estimated population growth i.e 8.5 billion by 2025 [1] are the valid reasons to be ready to prepare and grow other staple crops, which are equivalent to existing staple crops [2]. Millets grown in India are sorghum (Jowar), pearl millet (Bajra), finger millet (Ragi) and many other small millets viz., Kodo millet, Foxtail millet, Little millet, Proso millet and Barnyard millet They can grow well and tolerant to poor soil and dry conditions. Of all the species Pearl millet and Sorghum in India have total area of 23 – 24 million ha and have wide acceptability as food crop, while ragi and other small millets account for about 2.7 million ha area Their cultivation is extending from sea level in Coastal Andhra Pradesh to 8000 feet above sea level in hills of Uttaranchal and Northeastern states [6].
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