Abstract
Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is a warm season grass with a growing season of 60–100 days. It is a highly nutritious cereal grain used for human consumption, bird seed, and/or ethanol production. Unique characteristics, such as drought and heat tolerance, make proso millet a promising alternative cash crop for the Pacific Northwest (PNW) region of the United States. Development of proso millet varieties adapted to dryland farming regions of the PNW could give growers a much-needed option for diversifying their predominantly wheat-based cropping systems. In this review, the agronomic characteristics of proso millet are discussed, with emphasis on growth habits and environmental requirements, place in prevailing crop rotations in the PNW, and nutritional and health benefits. The genetics of proso millet and the genomic resources available for breeding adapted varieties are also discussed. Last, challenges and opportunities of proso millet cultivation in the PNW are explored, including the potential for entering novel and regional markets.
Highlights
Worldwide Significance of MilletsMillets are small-seeded annual cereals grown for food, feed, forage, and fuel (Rachie, 1975; Kothari et al, 2005)
Current archeological theorists believe that proso millet domestication took place around the beginning of the Holocene as global temperatures became warmer and huntergatherers were exposed to new plants and environments (Bettinger et al, 2007, 2010a,b)
Five Eight primer pairs which amplified a total of 450 fragments, 339 of which were polymorphic Seven Eight Six primer pairs for the intron splice junction (ISJ) Two types of repeats different in the length of the non-transcribed spacer (NTS) region 43 potential miRNAs which may regulate 68 target genes 40 46 markers from other plant species (21 from rice; 15 from wheat; 9 from oat; 1 from barley) 25 markers from proso millet by constructing a simple sequence repeat (SSR)-enriched library from genomic DNA 348 markers from switchgrass, of which 254 were highly polymorphic in proso millet 11 SSR markers developed from foxtail millet
Summary
Millets are small-seeded annual cereals grown for food, feed, forage, and fuel (Rachie, 1975; Kothari et al, 2005). About 20 different species of millet have been cultivated throughout the world at different points in time (Fuller, 2006). Cultivated millet species include proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.), pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.R. Br.), finger millet (Eleusine coracana), kodo millet (Paspalum setaceum), foxtail millet Millet ranks sixth among the world’s most important cereal grains, sustaining more than one-third of the world’s population (Verma and Patel, 2012; Changmei and Dorothy, 2014). Asian and African countries are the biggest millet producers (Table 1; Figure 1).
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