Foxtail millet (Setaria italica) is a small diploid C4 panicoid crop species, whose genome is being sequenced by the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) of the Department of Energy. The rationale for sequencing foxtail millet is that it is closely related to the bioenergy grasses switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum), and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), yet is a more tr...

Pearl millet and soybean flour were used in this study. Investigation showed that the major fraction of pearl millet protein was the prolamin followed by globulin and glutelin, while that of soybean was the globulin followed by glutelin and lesser amounts of albumin and prolamin. Cooking of pearl millet or soybean was found to decrease the globulin and true-prolamin fractions, while the prolami...

Developing cultivars with traits that can enhance and sustain productivity under climate change will be an important climate smart adaptation option. The modified CSM-CERES-Pearl millet model was used to assess yield gains by modifying plant traits determining crop maturity duration, potential yield and tolerance to drought and heat in pearl millet cultivars grown at six locations in arid (Hisa...

Ongoing global climate changes imply new challenges for agriculture. Whether plants and crops can adapt to such rapid changes is still a widely debated question. We previously showed adaptation in the form of earlier flowering in pearl millet at the scale of a whole country over three decades. However, this analysis did not deal with variability of year to year selection. To understand and poss...

The identification of genes selected during and after plant domestication is an important research topic to enhance knowledge on adaptative evolution. Adaptation to different climates was a key factor in the spread of domesticated crops. We conducted a study to identify genes responsible for these adaptations in pearl millet and developed an association framework to identify genetic variations ...

We report an Ac-like sequence from pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) and deletion derivative Ac-like sequences from pearl millet and another grass species, Bambusa multiplex. Sequence relationships between the pearl millet and maize Ac elements suggest that Ac/Ds transposable-element family is ancient. Further, the sequence identity between the Bambusa Ac-like sequence and maize Ac implies that...

The interaction of soiil water and P supply is of paramount importance to pearl millet [Penniseturn gluucum (L.) R. Br.] growth in Sahelian Africa due to unreliable rainfall and low soil P availability. This study was conducted to quantify the growth response of pe:ul millet to water supply and P under conditions analogous to the Saliel in terms of climatle and soil. Millet was grown for 84 d i...

Polygalacturonase-inhibitor protein (PGIP) is a defense protein found in plant cell walls. It prevents the degradation of pectin by modulating the endo-polygalacturonase activity. The present study has used heterologous anti-bean PGIP probes to investigate the role of PGIP in pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L) R. Br.] resistance against downy mildew caused by oomycete pathogen Sclerospora gra...

The objective of this experiment was to assess the effects of malting, extrusion and a combination of both processes on the physical and functional properties of the pearl millet flour (PMF) and pearl millet based instant beverage powder (PMIBP) produced. PMF and PMIBP were prepared by malting, extrusion and a combination of malting and extrusion cooking from two different varieties of pearl mi...

Pearl millet is one of the most important small-grained C4 Panicoid crops with a large genome size (∼2352 Mb), short life cycle and outbreeding nature. It is highly resilient to areas with scanty rain and high temperature. Pearl millet is a nutritionally superior staple crop for people inhabiting hot, drought-prone arid and semi-arid regions of South Asia and Africa where it is widely grown and...