| Abstrakt: |
Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] is an important component of agri‐food system in areas experiencing drought and high temperature and for increasing the resilience to climatic stresses and addressing malnutrition. The purpose of this review is to examine strategies for improving productivity, stress resilience, and nutritional quality of pearl millet and to understand its consumption pattern. Genetic diversification of hybrid parental lines remains strategically important to breed diverse, disease‐resistant and drought‐tolerant hybrids. Resistance to diseases, tolerance to drought, and high temperature and greater contents of iron and zinc are targeted in improving hybrid parental lines. Lodging resistance, compact panicles, panicle exertion, and improved seed set are universal traits, whereas duration, tillering ability, seed color, and seed size have a strong regional preference. The strategy of developing high‐yielding and disease‐resistant hybrids with adaptation to challenged agro‐ecologies has led to increase in yield from 303 to 1219 kg/ha between 1960 and 2020. Yield and stress resilience are to be increased further using conventional breeding and new tools like genomic selection, speed breeding, genome editing, and precision phenotyping. Mainstreaming grain nutritional traits, viz., iron and zinc contents in genetic improvement are essential to develop high‐yielding and nutrient‐rich pearl millet. There is need to enhance the consumption of pearl millet by strengthening existing value‐chain, providing consumer a choice of diverse range of food products, creating awareness about its health benefits and promotion through government schemes. Core Ideas: Pearl millet has an important role in increasing climatic resilience of agri‐food system and reducing malnutrition.Strategies of enhancing yield focused on hybrid development, disease resistance, and genetic diversification.Use of adapted germplasm and elite materials proved effective in amalgamating drought tolerance and productivity.In future, yield is to be increased along with resilience using conventional, genomics‐assisted, and speed breeding.There is need to enhance the consumption of nutritious pearl millet by strengthening value‐chain and creating awareness. Plain Language Summary: Pearl millet is an important component of agri‐food system in areas experiencing drought and high temperature. It would have a greater role in future for increasing the resilience to climate stresses and as nutrient‐rich crop for addressing malnutrition. The purpose of this review is to examine strategies for improving productivity, environmental resilience, and nutritional quality of pearl millet and to understand its consumption dynamics. Yield improvement remains a top priority in breeding high‐yielding cultivars. Strategies of enhancing yield were influenced by availability of new knowledge and opportunities. Programs up to 1960s focused on the development of open‐pollinating varieties using a diverse range of genetic resources. Discovery of cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS), availability of stable male‐sterile lines, and effective restorers created new opportunities to exploit heterosis at the commercial scale through the development of hybrids that provided 15%–20% yield advantage over traditional cultivars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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