Introduction Cereal grains are an important component of the human diet worldwide and play a significant role in human nutrition and health. Millet is an ancient cereal grain asides the major wheat, rice, maize, and is the staple diet in some parts of countries, especially in arid and semiarid areas 1 3 , owning to its short growing season, excellent resistance to pests and diseases, productivity under drought conditions, strong tolerance to drought and barren soil compared to other major cereals 4. It has been reported that millet possesses effective medical and nutritional functions such as anti-oxidant, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory 5, 6. Millet also has the ability to lower the level of serum cholesterol for its highest amount of sitostanol among cereal grains 7. Major varieties of millet include sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet, proso millet, foxtail millet, barnyard millet, kodo millet and little millet 1, 4, 8. Foxtail millet Setaria italica L., abbreviated as FM is a small kernel, thin and long stem crop, and originated in North China, and is currently mostly cultivated in Japan,