Independent domestication and cultivation histories of two West African indigenous fonio millet crops

Abstract

Crop evolutionary history and domestication processes are key issues for better conservation and effective use of crop genetic diversity. Black and white fonio (Digitaria iburua and D. exilis, respectively) are two small indigenous grain cereals grown in West Africa. The relationship between these two cultivated crops and wild Digitaria species is still unclear. Here, we analyse whole genome sequences of 265 accessions comprising these two cultivated species and their close wild relatives. We show that white and black fonio were the result of two independent domestications without gene flow. We infer a cultivation expansion that began at the outset of the CE era, coinciding with the earliest discovered archaeological fonio remains in Nigeria. Fonio population sizes declined a few centuries ago, probably due to a combination of several factors, including major social and agricultural changes, intensification of the slave trade and the introduction of new, less labour-intensive crops. The key knowledge and genomic resources outlined here will help to promote and conserve these neglected climate-resilient crops and thereby provide an opportunity to tailor agriculture to the changing world.