European Journal of Sustainable Agroecosystems

Background: The impact of global climate change has led to an increasing frequency and intensity of drought conditions which could severely undermine global food security. Since millets are drought-resistant cereal crops, they are regarded as excellent organisms for researching drought resistance. Therefore, learning about the adaptation mechanisms of millets is necessary for their following application to food crops.
Objective of the review: This paper aims to summarize the developments introduced in multi-omics technologies (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and phenomics) for revealing the relationship between drought-resistance mechanisms in this cereal crop and its physiological, biochemical, and root architecture features.
Sources of literature: The literature search was performed using databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar with a primary focus on peer-referred journals, government reports along with publications of international agencies published between 2015 and 2026.
Summary of results: Millets are highly efficient in terms of their multi-factorial response to drought. They possess remarkable water use efficiency (WUE). For instance, millets consume as low as 25% of water compared to conventional cereals. Apart from exhibits remarkable efficiency, millets also modify their metabolic pathways and increase the build-up of osmoprotectants (e.g. proline and glycine betanine) and anti-oxidants, which help them resist the harmful effects of drought. In addition, they change their root architecture from shallow to deep depending on changes in root meristem metabolism. The integration of multi-omics data uncovers the central regulatory pathways modulated by transcription factors (DREB, NAC, WRKY) and stay green quantitative trait loci.
What is not known: It has to be pointed out that key knowledge gaps exist concerning the seasonal-spatial characteristics of the process of root exudation, the sedimentary relationship of multi-omic pathways and functional confirmation of the implemented gene candidates in situ.
Final statement: The synthesis of multi-data platforms allows creating the unique blueprint of drought-resistance of millets. Additionally, the translation of the multifaceted traits into drought-smart breeding programs.