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Proso millet (Panicummiliaceum L.) is a short-duration C4 crop that is drought tolerant and nutritionally rich and can grow well in marginal lands. Though the crop has many climate-resilient traits like tolerance to drought and heat, its yield is lower than that of common cereals like rice, wheat, and maize. Being an underutilized crop, the molecular resources in the crop are limited. The main aim of the present study was to develop and characterize contrasting mutants for yield and generate functional genomic information for the trait in proso millet. Gamma irradiation-induced mutant population was screened to identify high-yielding mutants, which were evaluated up to M4 generation. One mutant with a dense panicle and high yield (ATL_hy) and one with a lax panicle and low yield (ATL_ly) along with the wild type were sequenced using the genotyping-by-sequencing approach. The variants detected as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertions–deletions (InDels) were annotated against the reference genome of proso millet. Bioinformatic analyses using the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and UniProt databases were performed to elucidate genetic information related to the SNP variations. A total of 25,901, 30,335, and 31,488 SNPs, respectively, were detected in the wild type, ATL_hy mutants, and ATL_ly mutants. The total number of functional SNPs identified in high-yielding and low-yielding mutants was 84 and 171, respectively. Two functional SNPs in the high-yielding mutant (ATL_hy) and one in the low-yielding mutant (ATL_ly) corresponded to the gene coding for “E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase UPL7”. Pathway mapping of the functional SNPs identified that two SNPs in ATL_ly were involved in the starch biosynthetic pathway coding for the starch synthase enzyme. This information can be further used in identifying genes responsible for various metabolic processes in proso millet and in designing useful genetic markers.

Small millets, also known as nutri-cereals, are smart foods that are expected to dominate food industries and diets to achieve nutritional security. Nutri-cereals are climate resilient and nutritious. Small millet-based foods are becoming popular in markets and are preferred for patients with celiac and diabetes. These crops once ruled as food and fodder but were pushed out of mainstream cultivation with shifts in dietary habits to staple crops during the green revolution. Nevertheless, small millets are rich in micronutrients and essential amino acids for regulatory activities. Hence, international and national organizations have recently aimed to restore these lost crops for their desirable traits. The major goal in reviving these crops is to boost the immune system of the upcoming generations to tackle emerging pandemics and disease infestations in crops. Earlier periods of civilization consumed these crops, which had a greater significance in ethnobotanical values. Along with nutrition, these crops also possess therapeutic traits and have shown vast medicinal use in tribal communities for the treatment of diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease, and gastrointestinal issues. This review highlights the significance of small millets, their values in cultural heritage, and their prospects. Furthermore, this review dissects the nutritional and therapeutic traits of small millets for developing sustainable diets in near future.

The concern that artificial selection for crop improvement leads to loss of genetic diversity, has been debated over the past. The knowledge about the diversity present within the released varieties was important for the direction of future breeding programmes. This experiment was conducted utilizing thirty two elite rice varieties released by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and that are available in the Breeder’s Seed Production chain of Tamil Nadu. The study was conducted at the Paddy Breeding Station of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. The contribution of characters to divergence and clustering of varieties accordingly were estimated using Mahalanobis’ D2 statistics and PCA analysis. Time to maturity, single plant yield and days to 50 per cent flowering contributed maximum to the genetic diversity as given by the per cent contribution to divergence. The varieties were grouped into seven diverse clusters. According to Principal Component analysis first three components contributed to 77.3 per cent variability. First component was partitioned among single plant yield, the number of panicles per plant and time to maturity which made 40.6 per cent variability. This study shows that the genetic diversity are being preserved in different varieties indirectly in breeding for different consumer preferences, ecosystems and climatic conditions.

Background: Hypocalcaemia following thyroidectomy is a relatively common complication, which is sometimes difficult to correct. Methods: In this cohort study, we assessed the predictive factors for laboratory hypocalcaemia and symptomatic in patients who underwent thyroidectomy between January 2018-June 2019. Results: A total of 170 patients (153 women) were studied. Laboratory hypocalcaemia was found in 91.2% of patients, while 62.7% manifested symptomatic hypocalcaemia. Of the patients with symptomatic hypocalcaemia/(36%) had hypomagnesaemia as well. Univariate analysis revealed that type of disease (P = 0.0001), duration of surgery (P = 0.001), duration of disease (P = 0.005), type of surgery (P = 0.032) and hypomagnesaemia (P = 0.002) were significantly associated with hypocalcaemia. Age did not play a key role in the development of hypocalcaemia. Hypocalcaemia did not respond to supplementation without correcting the hypomagnesaemia. Conclusions: Type of disease, duration of disease, duration of surgery, type of surgery and hypomagnesaemia were risk factors. Age did not play a key role in the development of hypocalcaemia. Hypocalcaemia did not respond to supplementation without correcting the hypomagnesaemia. Adequate intervention can be started earlier to reduce the duration of hospital stay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]