Volume 4 • Issue 4 • 1000288 J Nutr Food Sci, an open access journal ISSN: 2155-9600 Open Access Review Article Manju and Paul Khurana, J Nutr Food Sci 2014, 4:4 DOI: 10.4172/2155-9600.1000288 Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences J o u r n a l o f N u t r i t i o n & Fo o d S c i e n c e s ISSN: 2155-9600 *Corresponding author: Manju Sharma, Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University, Haryana, Gurgaon, Manesar-122413, India, Tel: 91- 120-4392946; E-mail: sharma.manju131@gmail.com, msharma@amity.edu.in Received April 14, 2014; Accepted June 26, 2014; Published June 28, 2014 Citation: Manju S, Paul Khurana SM (2014) Alternative Healthy Food Crops. J Nutr Food Sci 4: 288. doi: 10.4172/2155-9600.1000288 Copyright: © 2014 Manju S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Alternative Healthy Food Crops Manju Sharma* and Paul Khurana SM Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University, Haryana, Gurgaon, Manesar-122413, India Abstract Plants having diverse profle in terms of nutrition, availability, tolerance to harsh climatic conditions and possibility of usages as food, forage and biofuel usually referred as Alternative plants. This article will only be focused on the plants having value to reinstate themselves as alternative food crop for the burgeoning population. Indigenous communities across the globe are familiar with a large diversity of fora and fauna that provide sustenance in form of food and medicine. The ‘plants for a future’ website reveals a list of more than 7000 underutilized species with different values (PFAF website). Most of these plants thrive well on impoverished or marginal soils and dry weather conditions. Millets, Buckwheat, Oats, and Chenopods are coming up as imperative nutritious option. The multipurpose use of Millets, Buckwheat, Oats, Chenopods and Barley coupled with early maturity, low nutrient demand and ability to adapt well to marginal and degraded lands makes them an ideal crop for future sustainable agriculture. Keywords: Millets; Chenopods; Oats; Buckwheat; Alternative food; Healthy food Introduction Need for alternative food crops Hovering fear of losing well domesticated crop plants due to natural disaster, heavy socio-economic pressure on a few crops and estimated population growth i.e 8.5 billion by 2025 [1] are the valid reasons to be ready to prepare and grow other staple crops, which are equivalent to existing staple crops [2]. About 50% of world population sufers from micronutrient defciencies specifcally in developing countries. Defciencies of Iron, Zn and vitamin A are critical nutritional issues and result in impaired physical growth, immune system function, mental and cognitive development and increase in anemia, maternal mortality and infection. Embracing of improved crop varieties, better equipment and farm mechanization, cultivation of more land, as well as increased fertilizer use for optimum growth is not sufcient anymore. Refning operations further degrade the nutritional value of cereals by removal of micronutrient rich germ and aleurone layers of the grains. Tus other optional crops viz. Millets, Oats, Buckwheat etc. must be consumed to maintain the micronutrient balance for good health. However, with an increasing population and demands for food, feed, and fuel, society is pressed to increase agricultural production whether by increasing production on already cultivated lands or by cultivating currently natural areas or to change current crop consumption patterns or to bring undermined nutritive crops in picture. At present, 22 crops account for the food crops produced on earth with dramatic reduction in food diversity for across the globe. It should be understood, that the speedy change in cropping system has drastically declined the production of many traditional staple food that are much richer in micronutrients as compared to processed food crops like Millets, Oats, Buckwheat Chenopods and Pulses. Judicious eforts are required towards the inclusion of alternative crops as part of our regular diet, throwing away the myth attached to their belonging to poorest of the poorest. Tese plants are resilient, well adapted to local environments, and for being wild, still retain highly diverse genetic bases and unique characteristics [3]. Te short and easy route to approach food security fast is to explore diverse resources which are not utilized yet or wild relatives having nutrition at par. Millets Millets are indigenous to many parts of the world; most likely had an evolutionary origin in tropical western Africa, where they exist in wild and cultivated forms [4]. Ofen they have been included in the orphan crop list as they are not traded across the world and failed to seek attention of researchers at all. In addition, social stigma attached to these crops as “food for the poor”, as well as the extra eforts required to dehusk and process the grains, to increase the attractiveness of millets. Millets are small seeded grasses grown for food, feed or forage and cultivated mostly in developing countries in poor soil and dry conditions. India is the largest producer of many kinds of millets, which are ofen referred to as coarse cereals. Now, they have been gaining importance as nutri–cereals due to their nutrient composition being superior or comparable to major cereals [5]. Millet grains are attracting attention in developing countries in terms of utilization as food and nutrition but some developed countries exploring their potential for manufacturing of bioethanol and bioflms. Tere are at least 10 genera and 14 species of millets belonging to the Poaceae (Gramineae) family (Table 1). Millets grown in India are sorghum (Jowar), pearl millet (Bajra), fnger millet (Ragi) and many other small millets viz., Kodo millet, Foxtail millet, Little millet, Proso millet and Barnyard millet. Tey can grow well and tolerant to poor soil and dry conditions. Of all the species Pearl millet and Sorghum in India have total area of 23 – 24 million ha and have wide acceptability as food crop, while ragi and other small millets account for about 2.7 million ha area. Teir cultivation is extending from sea level in Coastal Andhra Pradesh to 8000 feet above sea level in hills of Uttaranchal and Northeastern states [6]. Despite being a highly nutritive, drought tolerant, water saving crop