Finger Millet
Why finger millet?
Finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertner] is an annual cereal crop indigenous to Eastern Africa and also widely cultivated in Asia, especially in India. The grain is gluten free and high in calcium, zinc, iron, dietary fiber, phytates and protein.
Finger millet grain is used for producing beer, porridge, soups, bread, cakes and pudding. It is also drought tolerant, adapted to low-fertility soils and resistant to a wide range of pests and diseases, including in storage.
What we achieved
Collecting
- 136 seed samples of nine species of crop wild relatives collected from nine countries: Brazil, Chile, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan and Uganda.
Pre-breeding and evaluation
- 24 promising crop wild relative (CWR)-derived pre-bred materials were tested in adaptation trials in six sites across Kenya.
- 3 CWR-derived varieties showing earliness, resistance to lodging and tolerance/resistance to blast disease, Striga and drought have been released in Kenya.
- 28 finger millet lines including four CWR-derived pre-breeding lines have been prepared for submission to the genebank of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru, India.
- 12 promising blast resistant materials have been identified, most of which were wild accessions.
- Candidate genes involved in response to Striga hermonthica identified and their expression patterns established within 6 days of Striga infestation.
Finger Millet in Field
Project partners
Collecting
- Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Brasilia, Brazil
- Instituto Nacional de Innovacion Agraria, La Cruz, Chile
- Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute, Accra, Ghana
- Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, Nairobi, Kenya
- National Agriculture Genetic Resources Center, Khumaltar, Nepal
- National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Ibadan, Nigeria
- Plant Genetic Resources Program, Bio-Resources Conservation Institute, Islamabad, Pakistan
- National Agricultural Research Organization, Entebbe, Uganda
Pre-breeding and evaluation
Lead Institute: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, India
Partners:
- Maseno University, Kenya
- Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, Nairobi, Kenya
Finger millet key collections, materials and data
Finger millet collections
- The largest finger millet collection is conserved at the R.S. Paroda Genebank, ICRISAT.
- Of the 136 seed samples of finger millet wild relatives collected, 45 samples are conserved in the Millennium Seed Bank (December 2021).
- The Genesys PGR database also includes information about finger millet accessions in genebanks worldwide
Pre-breeding materials
- 28 finger millet lines including four CWR-derived pre-breeding lines have been prepared for submission to the genebank of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Hyderabad, India.
Data
- All data from the CWR finger millet pre-breeding and evaluation projects are available in the Germinate finger millet database.
Finger Millet stories
Crop Trust stories
- The Women Finger Millet Advocates of Western Kenya. https://www.croptrust.org/news-events/news/the-women-finger-millet-advocates-of-western-kenya. 11 October 2018
- Accessible Software for Accessible Seeds. https://www.croptrust.org/news-events/news/accessible-software-for-accessible-seeds/. 25 May 2022.
- Germinate tutorial – finger millet. https://vimeo.com/592599603. 26 August 2021.
- Battling biotic stress in farmers’ fields. https://www.croptrust.org/blog/battling-biotic-stress-in-farmers-fields/. 2 February 2021.
- Pre-breeding work with grasspea and finger millet gets a boost. https://www.croptrust.org/blog/pre-breeding-gets-a-boost/. 2 October 2019.
- 'Wild' Times at the Crop Trust. https://www.croptrust.org/news-events/news/wild-times-at-the-crop-trust/. 25 July 2018.
Partner stories
- Wild cousins of finger millet show promise of parasite resistance. https://www.icrisat.org/wild-cousins-of-finger-millet-show-promise-of-parasite-resistance/. 8 October 2018.
Relevant publications
- Gupta, S.M., Arora, S., Mirza, N., Pande, A., Lata, C., Puranik, S., Kumar, J., Kumar, A. 2017. Finger millet: A “certain” crop for an “uncertain” future and a solution to food insecurity and hidden hunger under stressful environments. Frontiers in Plant Science 8: 643. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2017.00643.
- Boateng, S.K., Aboagye, L.M., Egbadzor, K.F., Darko, R.K., Ameka, G.K., Ekpe, P., Kanton, R., Dogbe, W., Saaka-Buah, S. 2019. Collecting of crop wild relatives and minor crops in Ghana. Research in Agricultural & Veterinary Sciences 3(2): 89–95.
- Dida, Mathews M., Oduori, C.A., Manthi, S.J., Avosa, M.O., Mikwa, E.O., Ojulong, H.F., Odeny, D.A. 2021. Novel sources of resistance to blast disease in finger millet. Crop Science: 61: 250–262.
- Medeiros, M.B., Valls, J.F.M., Abreu, A.G., Heiden, G., Ribeiro-Silva, S., José, S.C.B.R., Santos, I.R.I., Passos, A.M.A., Burle, M.L. 2021. Status of the ex situ and in situ conservation of Brazilian crop wild relatives of rice, potato, sweet potato, and finger millet: Filling the gaps of germplasm collections. Agronomy 11(4): 638. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11040638.
- Gupta, S.M., Arora, S., Mirza, N., Pande, A., Lata, C., Puranik, S., Kumar, J., Kumar, A. 2017. Finger millet: A “certain” crop for an “uncertain” future and a solution to food insecurity and hidden hunger under stressful environments. Frontiers in Plant Science 8: 643. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2017.00643.
- Boateng, S.K., Aboagye, L.M., Egbadzor, K.F., Darko, R.K., Ameka, G.K., Ekpe, P., Kanton, R., Dogbe, W., Saaka-Buah, S. 2019. Collecting of crop wild relatives and minor crops in Ghana. Research in Agricultural & Veterinary Sciences 3(2): 89–95.
- Dida, Mathews M., Oduori, C.A., Manthi, S.J., Avosa, M.O., Mikwa, E.O., Ojulong, H.F., Odeny, D.A. 2021. Novel sources of resistance to blast disease in finger millet. Crop Science: 61: 250–262.
- Medeiros, M.B., Valls, J.F.M., Abreu, A.G., Heiden, G., Ribeiro-Silva, S., José, S.C.B.R., Santos, I.R.I., Passos, A.M.A., Burle, M.L. 2021. Status of the ex situ and in situ conservation of Brazilian crop wild relatives of rice, potato, sweet potato, and finger millet: Filling the gaps of germplasm collections. Agronomy 11(4): 638. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11040638.