The Rise of Millet Grains in the International Year of Millet: What You Need to Know

 

I am excited to share with you everything you need to know about millet grains. Millet is a group of small-seeded grasses that have been cultivated for thousands of years. In recent years, millet has gained popularity as a gluten-free alternative to wheat and other grains, and has been named the International Year of Millet by the United Nations. In this article, I will delve into the history and cultural significance of millet, its nutrition and health benefits, cooking tips and recipes, and why it is a smart choice for your health and the environment.

Introduction to Millet Grains

Millet is a highly versatile grain that can be used in a variety of dishes, from porridge to pilafs to breads. It is a staple food in many parts of the world, particularly in Africa and Asia. Millet is a gluten-free grain and is rich in fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals. It is also a good source of antioxidants, which help protect the body against oxidative stress and inflammation.

History and Cultural Significance of Millet

Millet has a long and rich history, dating back to ancient times. It was one of the first grains to be domesticated, and has been a staple food in many cultures for thousands of years. Millet was grown in China as early as 5000 BC, and was a major crop in ancient Egypt and Greece. In Africa, millet is a staple food in many countries, particularly in the Sahel region, where it is used to make porridge, couscous, and beer.

Millet has cultural significance in many parts of the world. In China, it is associated with good fortune and is often served during special occasions. In India, millet is used in religious ceremonies and is considered a sacred crop. In Africa, millet is a symbol of resilience, as it can grow in harsh conditions and is a vital source of food for many communities.

Millet Nutrition and Health Benefits

Millet is a highly nutritious grain that is rich in fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals. It is also low in fat and calories, making it a great choice for weight loss and diabetes management. Millet is rich in antioxidants, which help protect the body against oxidative stress and inflammation. It is also a good source of magnesium, which is important for bone health, and phosphorus, which is essential for energy production.

Millet is a good source of plant-based protein, making it a great choice for vegetarians and vegans. It is also a gluten-free grain, making it a great alternative to wheat for people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity. Millet is rich in fiber, which helps promote digestive health and can lower cholesterol levels.

Millet as a Gluten-Free Alternative

Millet is a gluten-free grain, making it a great alternative to wheat and other grains for people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity. Millet is also rich in fiber, which can help promote digestive health and reduce inflammation. It is a versatile grain that can be used in a variety of dishes, from porridge to pilafs to breads.

Millet in the International Year of Millet

The United Nations has named 2023 as the International Year of Millet, in recognition of the grain's nutritional value and potential to contribute to food security and sustainable agriculture. Millet is a sustainable crop that requires less water and fertilizer than other grains, making it a great choice for farmers and the environment.

Millet as a Sustainable Crop

Millet is a sustainable crop that can help address food security and climate change. Millet is drought-resistant and can grow in marginal soils, making it a great choice for smallholder farmers in developing countries. Millet requires less water and fertilizer than other grains, making it a more sustainable choice for farmers and the environment.

Millet Cooking Tips and Recipes

Millet is a versatile grain that can be used in a variety of dishes, from porridge to pilafs to breads. Millet can be cooked like rice, by simmering it in water or broth until tender. It can also be roasted or toasted to give it a nutty flavor. Millet flour can be used to make breads, muffins, and other baked goods.

Here is a simple recipe for millet pulao:

In a saucepan, bring 2 cups of water or broth to a boil.

Add 1 cup of millet, reduce heat, and simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until tender.

In a separate pan, fry chopped onions and garlic in olive oil until soft.

Add chopped vegetables, such as carrots and bell peppers, and sauté until tender.

Add the cooked millet to the vegetable mixture and stir to combine.

Millet for Weight Loss and Diabetes Management

Millet is a great choice for weight loss and diabetes management, as it is low in fat and calories and rich in fiber. Millet has a low glycemic index, which means it can help regulate blood sugar levels and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. Millet is also a good source of protein, which can help keep you feeling full and satisfied.

Millet vs Other Grains: A Comparison of Nutrition and Benefits

Millet is a highly nutritious grain that is rich in fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals. Compared to other grains, such as wheat and rice, millet is lower in calories and has a lower glycemic index. Millet is also a gluten-free grain, making it a great alternative for people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.

Conclusion: Why Millet is a Smart Choice for Your Health and the Environment

Millet is a highly nutritious and sustainable grain that can help address food security and climate change. It is a gluten-free alternative to wheat and other grains, and is rich in fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals. Millet is a sustainable crop that requires less water and fertilizer than other grains, making it a great choice for farmers and the environment. By choosing millet, you can improve your health and support a more sustainable food system.

I encourage you to try incorporating millet into your diet. Whether you use it in a pulao, dalia, or baked goods, millet is a versatile and nutritious grain that can benefit your health and the environment.

Disease of Wheat: Rust

 Black or stem rust - Puccinia graminis tritici

Symptoms 

Symptoms are produced on almost all aerial parts of the wheat plant but are most common on stem, leaf sheaths and upper and lower leaf surfaces. Uredial pustules (or sori) are oval to spindle shaped and dark reddish brown (rust) in color. They erupt through the epidermis of the host and are surrounded by tattered host tissue. The pustules are dusty in appearance due to the vast number of spores produced. Spores are readily released when touched.

As the infection advances teliospores are produced in the same pustule. The color of the pustule changes from rust color to black as teliospore production progresses. If a large number of pustules are produced, stems become weakened and lodge. The pathogen attacks other host (barberry) to complete its life cycle. Symptoms are very different on this woody host. Other spores are Pycnia (spermagonia) produced on the upper leaf surface of barberry which appears as raised orange spots. Small amounts of honeydew that attracts insects are produced in this structure. Aecia, produced on the lower leaf surface, are yellow. They are bell-shaped and extend as far as 5 mm from the leaf surface. 

Brown or leaf rust - Puccinia triticina (P. recondita)

Symptom 

The most common site for symptoms is on leaf blades, however, sheaths, glumes and awns may occasionally become infected and exhibit symptoms. Uredia are seen as small, circular orange blisters or pustules on the upper surface of leaves. 

Orange spores are easily dislodged and may cover clothing, hands or implements. When the infection is severe leaves dry out and die. Since inoculum is blown into a given area, symptoms are often seen on upper leaves first. As plants mature, the orange urediospores are replaced by black teliospores. Pustules containing these spores are black and shiny since the epidermis does not rupture. Yield loss often occurs as a result of infection by Puccinia recondita f. sp. tritici. Heavy infection which extends to the flag leaf results in a shorter period of grain fill and small kernels. 

Yellow or stripe rust - Puccinia striiformis

Symptom

 Mainly occur on leaves than the leaf sheaths and stem. Bright yellow pustules (Uredia) appear on leaves at early stage of crop and pustules are arranged in linear rows as stripes. The stripes are yellow to orange yellow. The teliospores are also arranged in long stripes and are dull black in colour. 

Minor diseases of Maize

 Minor diseases 

1. Bacterial Stalk rot - Erwinia dissolvens

Symptoms

The basal internodes develop soft rot and give a water soaked appearance. A mild sweet fermenting odour accompanies such rotting. Leaves some time show signs of wilting and affected plants topple down in few days. Ears and shank may also show rot. They fail to develop further and the ears hang down simply from the plant.

Disease cycle

 Borer insects play a significant role in initiation of the disease. The organism is soil borne and makes its entry through wounds and injuries on the host surface. The organism survives saprophytically on debris of infected materials and serves primary inoculum in the next season

2. Mosaic - Maize mosaic potyvirus

Symptoms 

 Symptoms appear as chlorotic spots, which gradually turn into stripes covering entire leaf blade. Chlorotic stripes and spots can also develop on leaf sheaths, stalks and husks. Moderate to severe rosetting of new growth is observed. Size of stalk, leaf blades and tassel tend to be normal in late infection. 

Symptom

Pathogen 

 It is caused by Maize mosaic potyvirus. Virions are flexuous, 750-900nm long, ssRNA genome. 

Disease cycle 

 It is transmitted in nature by leaf hopper vector, Perigrimus maidis. 

Disease of Maize: Charcoal rot

 Charcoal rot - Macrophomina phaseolina (Rhizoctonia bataticola)

Symptoms 

The affected plants exhibit wilting symptoms. The stalk of the infected plants can be recognized by grayish streak. The pith becomes shredded and grayish black minute sclerotiadevelop on the vascular bundles. Shredding of the interior of the stalk often causes stalks to break in the region of the crown. The crown region of the infected plant becomes dark in colour. Shredding of root bark and disintegration of root system are the common features. 

Symptom

Pathogen

The fungus produces large number of sclerotia which are round and black in colour. Sometimes, it produces pycnidia on the stems or stalks. 

Favourable Conditions 

• High temperature and low soil moisture (drought) 

Disease cycle 

The fungus has a wide host range, attacking sorghum, pearlmillet, fingermillet and pulses. It survives for more than 16 years in the infected plant debris. The primary source of infection is through soil-borne sclerotia. The pathogen also attacks many other hosts, which helps in its perpetuation. Since the fungus is a facultative parasite it is capable of living saprophytically on dead organic tissues, particularly many of its natural hosts producing sclerotial bodies. The fungus over winters as a sclerotia in the soil and infects the host at susceptible crop stage through roots and proceeds towards stem. 

Management 

• Long crop rotation with crops that are not natural host of the fungus. 

• Irrigate the crops at the time of earhead emergence to maturity. 

• Treat the seeds with Carbendazim or Captan at 2 g/kg. 

• Grow disease tolerant varieties viz., SN-65, SWS-8029, Diva and Zenit. 

Disease of Maize: Head smut

 Head smut - Sphacelotheca reiliana

Symptoms

Symptoms are usually noticed on the cob and tassel. Large smut sori replace the tassel and the ear. Sometimes the tassel is partially or wholly converted into smut sorus. The smutted plants are stunted produce little yield and remain greener than that of the rest of the plants. 

Pathogen 

Smut spores are produced in large numbers which are reddish brown to black, thick 

walled, finely spined, spherical. 

Favourable Conditions 

• Low temperature favours more infection and this fungus also infects the sorghum 

Disease cycle 

The smut spores retain its viability for two years. The fungus is externally seedborne and 

soil-borne. The major source of infection is through soil-borne chlamydospores.

Management 

• Field sanitation. 

• Crop rotation with pulses. 

• Treat the seeds with Captan or Thiram at 4 g/kg. 

Disease of Maize: Rust

 Rust - Puccinia sorghi

Symptoms 

Circular to oval, elongated cinnamon-brown powdery pustules are scattered over both surface of the leaves. As the plant matures, the pustules become brown to black owing to the replacement of red uredospores by black teliospores. 

Symptom

Pathogen 

Uredospores are globose or elliptical finely echinulate, yellowish brown with 4 germpores. Teliospores are brownish black, or dark brown, oblong to ellipsoidal, rounded to flattened at the apex. They are two celled and slightly constricted at the septum and the spore wall is thickened at the apex. 

Uredospores

Teliospores

Favourable Conditions 

• Cool temperature and high relative humidity. 

Disease cycle 

Primary source of inoculums is uredospores surviving on alternate hosts viz., Oxalis corniculata and Euchlaena mexicana. 

Management 

• Remove the alternate hosts. 

• Spray Mancozeb at 2 kg/ha. 

Disease of Maize: Leaf Blight

 Leaf blight - Helminthosporium maydis (Syn: H. turcicum)

Symptoms 

The fungus affects the crop at young stage. Small yellowish round to oval spots are seen on the leaves. The spots gradually increase in area into bigger elliptical spots and are straw to grayish brown in the centre with dark brown margins. The spots coalesce giving blighted appearance. The surface is covered with olive green velvetty masses of conidia and conidiophores. 

Symptom

Pathogen 

Conidiophores are in group, geniculate, mid dark brown, pale near the apex and smooth. Conidia are distinctly curved, fusiform, pale to mid dark golden brown with 5-11 septa. 

Conidia

Favourable Conditions 

• Optimum temperature for the germination of conidia is 8 to 27˚C provided with freewater on the leaf. 

• Infection takes place early in the wet season. 

Disease cycle 

It is a seed-borne fungus. It also infects sorghum, wheat, barely, oats, sugarcane and spores of the fungus are also found to associate with seeds of green gram, black gram, cowpea, varagu, Sudan grass, Johnson grass and Teosinte. 

Management 

• Treat the seeds with Captan or Thiram at 4 g/kg. 

• Spray Mancozeb 2 kg or captan 1 kg/ha. 

Disease of Maize: Downy mildew/Crazy top

 Downy mildew/Crazy top 

Sorghum downy mildew - Peronosclerospora sorghi

Phlippine downy mildew - Peronosclerospora philippinensis

Crazy top - Sclerophthora macrospora

Symptoms 

The most characteristic symptom is the development of chlorotic streaks on the leaves. Plants exhibit a stunted and bushy appearance due to shortening of the internodes. White downy growth is seen on the lower surface of leaf. Downy growth also occurs on bracts of green unopened male flowers in the tassel. Small to large leaves are noticed in the tassel. Proliferation of auxillary buds on the stalk of tassel and the cobs is common (Crazy top).

Symptom

Symptom

Pathogen 

The fungus grows as white downy growth on both surface of the leaves, consisting of sporangiophores and sporangia. Sporangiophores are quite short and stout, branch profusely into series of pointed sterigmata which bear hyaline, oblong or ovoid sporangia (conidia). Sporangia germinate directly and infect the plants. In advanced stages, oospores are formed which are spherical, thick walled and deep brown. 

Favourable Conditions 

• Low temperature (21-33˚C) 

• High relative humidity (90 per cent) and drizzling. 

• Young plants are highly susceptible. 

Disease cycle 

The primary source of infection is through oospores in soil and also dormant mycelium present in the infected maize seeds. Secondary spread is through airborne conidia. Depending on the pathogen species, the initial source of disease inoculum can be oospores that over winter in the soil or conidia produced in infected, over wintering crop debris and infected neighboring plants. Some species that cause downy mildew can also be seed borne, although this is largely restricted to seed that is fresh and has high moisture content. 

At the onset of the growing season, at soil temperatures above 20°C, oospores in the soil germinate in response to root exudates from susceptible maize seedlings. The germ tube infects the underground sections of maize plants leading to characteristic symptoms of systemic infection including extensive chlorosis and stunted growth. If the pathogen is seed borne, whole plants show symptoms. Oospores are reported to survive in nature for up to 10 years. 

Once the fungus has colonised host tissue, sporangiophores (conidiophores) emerge from stomata and produce sporangia (conidia) which are wind and rain splash disseminated and initiate secondary infections. Sporangia are always produced in the night. They are fragile and can not be disseminated more than a few hundred meters and do not remain viable for more than a few hours. 

Germination of sporangia is dependent on the availability of free water on the leaf surface. Initial symptoms of disease (chlorotic specks and streaks that elongate parallel to veins) occur in 3 days. Conidia are produced profusely during the growing season. As the crop approaches senescence, oospores are produced in large numbers. 

Management 

• Deep ploughing. 

• Crop rotation with pulses. 

• Rogue out infected plants. 

• Treat the seeds with metalaxyl at 6g/kg. 

• Spray the crop with Metalaxyl + Mancozeb @ 1kg on 20th day after sowing. 

• Grow resistant varieties and hybrids viz. CO1, COH1 and COH2.

Botanical features of Maize

 Maize is a tall, determinate annual C4 plant varying in height from <1 to >4 metres producing large, narrow, opposing leaves, borne alternately along the length of a solid stem. The botanical features of various plant parts are as follows:

Root: Normally maize plants have three types of roots, i) seminal roots -which develop from radical and persist for long period, ii) adventitious roots, fibrous roots developing from the lower nodes of stem below ground level which are the effective and active roots of plant and iii) brace or prop roots, produced by lower two nodes. The roots grow very rapidly and almost equally outwards and downwards. Suitable soils may allow corn root growth up to 60 cm laterally and in depth.

Stem: The stem generally attains a thickness of three to four centimeters. The internodes are short and fairly thick at the base of the plant; become longer and thicker higher up the stem, and then taper again. The ear bearing internode is longitudinally grooved, to allow proper positioning of the ear head (cob). The upper leaves in corn are more responsible for light interception and are major contributors of photosynthate to grain.

Flower: The apex of the stem ends in the tassel, an inflorescence of male flowers and the female inflorescences (cobs or ears) are borne at the apex of condensed, lateral branches known as shanks protruding from leaf axils. The male (staminate) inflorescence, a loose panicle, produces pairs of free spikelets each enclosed by a fertile and a sterile floret. The female (pistillate) inflorescence, a spike, produces pairs of spikelets on the surface of a highly condensed rachis (central axis, or “cob”). The female flower is tightly covered over by several layers of leaves, and so closed in by them to the stem that they don’t show themselves easily until emergence of the pale yellow silks from the leaf whorl at the end of the ear. The silks are the elongated stigmas that look like tufts of hair initially and later turn green or purple in color. Each of the female spikelets encloses two fertile florets, one of whose ovaries will mature into a maize kernel once sexually fertilized by wind-blown pollen.

As the internodes of the shanks are condensed, the ear remains permanently enclosed in a mantle of many husk leaves. Thus the plant is unable to disperse its seeds in the manner of a wild plant and instead it depends upon human intervention for seed shelling and propagation.

The explanation for each maize male and female floral organ has been given below:

Tassel: inflorescence of male flowers; the tassel consists of several long, in determinate branches bearing short determinate branches (spikelet pairs) that bear two spikelets (compact auxiliary branches of grass inflorescence, that in maize consists of two bracts subtending one reduced male flower).

Stamen: pollen-producing reproductive organs which are collectively referred as androecium.

Stalk: also filament; the part of the stamen on which anther develops.

Anther: the terminal part of a stamen in which the pollen grains are produced.

Microspore: smaller of the two types of spore produced in heterosporous plants; develops in the pollen sac into a male gametophyte.

Male gametophyte: microspores divide twice to produce 3 celled pollen grain/tube (a male gametophyte); two of the cells are sperm; other is called vegetative cell, or tube cell.

Sperm cell: two sperm cells are produced; one sperm cell fuses with the egg resulting in zygote; other sperm cells fuses with central cell giving start to development of triploid tissue called endosperm which surrounds the embryo and serves an absorbtive/nutritive function in seed.