Assessment of biochemical basis of yield variation in proso millet and little millet

Abstract

Proso millet and little millet is a highly nutritious cereal grain used for human consumption, bird seed, and/or ethanol production. Unique characteristics, such as drought and heat tolerance, make proso and little millet a promising alternative cash crop for future climate scenario. These smallmillets are act as important climate-smart nutritious crops. Understanding the biochemical changes in proso millet and little millet at different stages helps to understand their adaptations to extreme climate changes and crop characteristics, their influence on grain yield. In this study, we assessed the biochemical constituents such as soluble protein, proline, nitrate reductase, catalase activity and peroxidase activity at five different growth stages (vegetative, flowering, grain development, grain maturity and harvest) and two small millets cultivars (prosomillet and little millet). The proline accumulation was highest at grain development stage in these two small millets (1.54 to 2.05 mg/g) and was the maximum in liitle millet. Soluble protein and nitrate reductase activity were the maximum in little millet; both increased from flowering to grain development stages and decreased in later stages. Proso millet had the highest catalase activity in all five growth stages and the lowest catalase activity was found in little millet across growth stages. Within each crop, a cultivar having high proline, soluble protein, nitrate reductase, and peroxidase activity had higher grain yield, while cultivar with high catalase activity had comparatively low yield, except little millet.