An orphan crop
Dorian Fuller, an expert in ethnobotany and paleobiology at University College London’s Institute of Archaeology, was the first to mention this early Taiwanese cereal in his keynote address at that critical conference. Fuller had learned from a Japanese professor named Emiko Takei that it was an “orphan crop” existing only in Taiwan, but Fuller himself had never seen it and had no picture of it. Although many of the world’s top agricultural and botanical scholars were attending the conference, no one knew anything about this plant.
At the end of 2019 Hsing, leading the only team in the world researching this species, gave a lecture at the University of Cambridge in the UK at which she announced the interim results of their studies. This plant, known as “Taiwan oil millet” (TOM), an endemic Taiwanese species with the scientific name Eccoilopus formosanus (Rendle) A. Camus, is resistant to drought, heat, cold, disease, insect pests, salinity, and inundation, and, as a “C4” plant, is highly efficient in its utilization of sunlight for photosynthesis, and of nitrogenous fertilizer. These characteristics make it one of the plant world’s premier survivors, and suited to growing in adverse environments. However, while the wild oil millet Eccoilopus cotulifer, the likely ancestor of TOM, is naturally edible, it is not easy to harvest because it releases its seeds once they ripen (a process known as “shattering”). In addition, the grains are small and troublesome to husk, so it was not popular as a food. Mostly people planted it at the edges of their fields, to attract birds to eat it instead of their main crops.
“Eventually the wild oil millet grown in Taiwan as a sacrificial field-margin crop underwent natural mutations that inhibited seed shattering and caused the plants to stand up straighter and form fewer branches. Thus Taiwan oil millet was born as a new endemic species.” Hsing believes this happened because the Austronesian-speaking peoples living in Taiwan noticed that if they chose large, healthy-looking seeds to sow, the plants that grew from them would also produce larger grains that were better to eat. The modern idea of crop improvement existed long ago in the minds of our island’s early inhabitants. “Even more impressive is that they knew how to domesticate plants. They practiced artificial selection through more than 3000 years of choosing what was best to eat.” The ancestors of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples successfully developed TOM into a new staple crop.
Studies show that the highly nutritious embryo of a TOM grain accounts for one-third of the grain’s volume. In terms of both protein, and minerals such as zinc, magnesium, and calcium, TOM’s nutritional content is several times greater than in modern staple foods. Also, compared with other cereals it supplies a broader range of “essential” amino acids (ones that the human body is unable to make for itself and must obtain from the diet), helping to promote bodily development and strengthen the immune system.
Between 3500 and 4000 years ago, a large number of indigenous forebears migrated away from Taiwan, taking with them important belongings including seeds. “But they never took TOM with them, and ultimately it became an ‘orphan crop’ existing only in Taiwan. When indigenous people stopped eating it, it disappeared.”
Now TOM is back, and the international academic community believes that it may help solve the global food crisis caused by climate disruption and population growth. It is being called a “superfood,” and is attracting transnational research and interdisciplinary technical collaboration.
Covid-19 has caused major damage to the world economy, with lockdowns fracturing the food supply chain, causing sudden food crises around the globe. With the advent of the post-pandemic era, people are realizing that they must prepare for an unpredictable future.
TOM, a “smart” plant that is resistant to drought, disease, and pests, uses different mechanisms to secrete different types of wax in three locations across the plant. The photo shows wax on the leaf sheath that falls off as soon as it is touched.
The soft-spoken Hsing Yue-ie specializes in food crops and is especially concerned about climate change and global hunger. She says with a smile that the process of researching TOM has been full of “delightful surprises.”