Breeding Brown Top Millet (Brachiaria ramose) for Biotic and Abiotic Stress Resistance

Millets, resilient plants suitable for growth in various tropical and subtropical environments, outperform grains in terms of nutrition. They are not only more cost-effective than cereals but also boast higher levels of protein, vitamins and fibre. Southeast origin annual grass Brown top millet (Brachiaria ramose) is grown in Africa, Arabia, China and Australia. Distinguishing itself from other minor millets, it possesses unique qualities such as the shortest cultivation period, the ability to tolerate shade and the capacity to suppress root-knot nematode populations. It is gluten-free, has low GI and so its consumption reduces cholesterol. It is rich in fibre, iron, calcium, magnesium and many minerals and is gluten-free. It is grown mostly in southern India and also grown in some parts of the USA as a fodder crop and bird feed. In comparison, millet production and productivity is lower than that of cereals and has further hindered its yield potential due to biotic and abiotic stress. Biotic stress primarily leads to a greater reduction in yield capacity. Diseases mainly include leaf blight, blast and downy mildew. The insect pests recorded are shoot flies A. oryzae, A. pulla and A. punctata; caseworm Paraponyx stagnalis; and red hairy caterpillars A. albistriga and A. moorei. Apart from the disease and pest, many weeds and abiotic factors also hinder the yield potential of the crop. The need to focus more research and development on millets is underlined by growing consumer interest in healthy nutrition, together with the climate-resilient properties of small millets. Except for finger millet and foxtail millet, other small millets like brown top millet have received minimal research attention towards development genetic and genomic resources and breeding for biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. Available germplasm diversity along with advances in phenotyping and genomics technologies could be utilized in improvement of brown top millet.