gholamreza Abdi

Biofortification of staple food crops is an economical and practical way to mitigate micronutrient malnutrition as it predis- poses humans to different health maladies. Despite the availability of various methods for biofortification, the biofortified crops, especially millets, could offer a great scope. Foxtail millet has adequate content of minerals, non-starchy polysac- charides, vital amino acids, and proteins, and is regarded as one of the most important nutri-cereals. However, biofortified foxtail millet can potentially alleviate the micronutrient deficiency. Genetic modification to improve the micronutrient content through the available zinc and iron-regulated transporters in foxtail millet can be useful to fine tune the enrichment of micronutrients. The availability of well annotated foxtail millet genome sequence information can facilitate gene min- ing, transcripts and proteins related to nutritional quality. Combining the insights gained from proteomics, transcriptomics, genomics, and metabolomics might help foxtail millet to become a model system. This article describes the different aspects of biofortification in foxtail millet as the biofortified crop for the present and future.