Report on characterization of land races and local varieties of finger millet and other small millets (annex 2.1 of final technical report)

The varietal diversity study undertaken as part of Revalorising Small Millets in Rainfed Regions of South Asia (RESMISA) project indicated that there are many well performing millet varieties in terms of adaptation to the local environment, cooking properties and yield. However, many of these local varieties are losing their character due to loss of purity. Purification and morphological characterisation of these local varieties are needed, in terms of human nutritional benefit from the available rich varietal diversity both in the short and long term