Six underutilized grain crops for food and nutrition in China

Underutilized grain crops are an essential part of the food system that supports humankind. A number of these crops can be found in China, such as barley, buckwheat, broomcorn millet, foxtail millet, oat, and sorghum, which have characteristics such as containing more nutritional elements, being resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses, and having strong adaptability to poor environments. The diversity of these crops provides options for farmers’ livelihoods and healthy food for the population. Although some mentioned crops such as barley, oat, and sorghum are not underutilized crops globally, they could be considered underutilized in China as they were more important in the past and could be revitalized for food and nutrition in the future. This paper reviews current progress in research and development in the areas of germplasm resource conservation, variety improvement, cultivation technologies, processing, and the nutrition and benefits of six underutilized grain crops in China. It is concluded that underutilized grain crops could play a critical role in food and nutritional security in China.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Zhang, Zongwen, Zhang, Jing, Lu, Ping, Wu, Bin, Liu, Minxuan, Gao, Jia, Wang, Chunchao, Bai, Keyu, Guo, Ganggang
Format:	Journal Article biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	MDPI 2022-09-09
Subjects:	plant breeding, germplasm, grain crops, crop improvement, underutilized species, food security, fitomejoramiento, germoplasma, cultivos de grano, ecology,
Online Access:	https://hdl.handle.net/10568/126976 https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11192451
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!