Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn) is an important crop for food security because of its tolerance to drought, which is expected to be exacerbated by global climate changes. Nevertheless, it is often classified as an orphan/underutilized crop because of the paucity of scientific attention. Among several small millets, finger millet is considered as an excellent source of essential nutrient elements, such as iron and zinc; hence, it has potential as an alternate coarse cereal. However, high-quality genome sequence data of finger millet are currently not available. One of the major problems encountered in the genome assembly of this species was its polyploidy, which hampers genome assembly compared with a diploid genome. To overcome this problem, we sequenced its genome using diverse technologies with sufficient coverage and assembled it via a novel multiple hybrid assembly workflow that combines next-generation with single-molecule sequencing, followed by whole-genome optical mapping using the Bionano Irys® system. The total number of scaffolds was 1,897 with an N50 length >2.6 Mb and detection of 96% of the universal single-copy orthologs. The majority of the homeologs were assembled separately. This indicates that the proposed workflow is applicable to the assembly of other allotetraploid genomes.

Experimental evidence is presented to show that the ¹⁸O enrichment in the leaf biomass and the mean (time-averaged) transpiration rate are positively correlated in groundnut and rice genotypes. The relationship between oxygen isotope enrichment and stomatal conductance (g_s) was determined by altering g_s through ABA and subsequently using contrasting genotypes of cowpea and groundnut. The Peclet model for the ¹⁸O enrichment of leaf water relative to the source water is able to predict the mean observed values well, while it cannot reproduce the full range of measured isotopic values. Further, it fails to explain the observed positive correlation between transpiration rate and ¹⁸O enrichment in leaf biomass. Transpiration rate is influenced by the prevailing environmental conditions besides the intrinsic genetic variability. As all the genotypes of both species experienced similar environmental conditions, the differences in transpiration rate could mostly be dependent on intrinsic g_s. Therefore, it appears that the Δ¹⁸O of leaf biomass can be used as an effective surrogate for mean transpiration rate. Further, at a given vapour pressure difference, Δ¹⁸O can serve as a measure of stomatal conductance as well.

Good-quality plant protein sources are important for protein adequacy in a balanced diet. Legumes are known to be a source of good quality plant protein, but the true ileal digestibility of indispensable amino acids (IAAs) of commonly consumed legumes is not known in humans. In this study we measured the true ileal IAA digestibility of ²H-intrinsically labeled chickpea, yellow pea, and mung bean (hulled and dehulled) protein, using the dual-isotope tracer technique referenced to a standard protein ([U-¹³C] spirulina). The study also aimed to validate the use of [U-¹³C] spirulina as a reference protein in this method. ²H-intrinsically labeled legumes, obtained by watering plants with deuterium oxide (²H₂O), were administered in a plateau feeding method to healthy Indian adults to measure their true ileal IAA digestibility with the dual-isotope tracer technique, using [U-¹³C] spirulina protein or a ¹³C-algal IAA mixture as the standard. The true ileal IAA digestibilities (mean ± SD) of chickpea, yellow pea, and mung bean were 74.6 ± 0.8%, 71.6 ± 1.3%, and 63.2 ± 1.5%, respectively. The true mean ileal IAA digestibility of mung bean when referenced to [U-¹³C] spirulina protein or a ¹³C-algal IAA mixture did not differ significantly (63.2 ± 1.5% versus 64.0 ± 2.4%, P > 0.05). The true ileal IAA digestibility of mung bean improved to 70.9 ± 2.1% after dehulling. The true mean ileal IAA digestibility of legumes in healthy Indian adults was lower than expected. Traditional processing techniques such as dehulling improve protein digestibility by about 8%. This study was registered in the Clinical Trials Registry of India (CTRI): CTRI/2017/11/010468 (http://ctri.nic.in, accessed on 28/03/2019).

The types of food in complementary feeding of infants and young children are important for growth and development. Food protein quality, as measured by the Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Score (DIAAS), requires the determination of true ileal digestibility of indispensable amino acids (IAAs) in children. First, the aim of this study was to measure the true ileal IAA digestibility of 4 (rice, finger millet, mung bean, and hen egg) commonly consumed complementary foods in children aged <2 y using the dual-isotope tracer method. Second, we calculated the DIAAS of complementary feeding diets and their relation to stunting in a representative Indian rural population. Rice, finger millet, and mung bean were intrinsically labeled with deuterium oxide (²H₂O), whereas egg was labeled through oral dosing of hens with a uniformly ²H-labeled amino acid mixture. True ileal IAA digestibility was determined by the dual-isotope tracer technique. The DIAAS of complementary food protein was calculated in children aged 1–3 y from a nationally representative survey to evaluate its relation with stunting. True ileal IAA digestibility was lowest in mung bean (65.2% ± 7.1%), followed by finger millet (68.4 %± 5.3%) and rice (78.5% ± 3.5%), and was highest for egg (87.4% ± 4.0%). There was a significant inverse correlation of complementary food DIAAS with stunting in survey data (r = −0.66, P = 0.044). The addition of egg or milk to nationally representative complementary diets theoretically improved the DIAAS from 80 to 100. The true ileal IAA digestibility of 4 foods commonly consumed in complementary diets showed that the DIAAS was associated with stunting and reinforces the importance of including animal source food (ASF) in diets to improve growth. This trial was registered at http://ctri.nic.in/clinicaltrials/login.php as CTRI/2017/02/007921.