There have been some reported cases of animals dying after eating the crop, though they are not that frequent.
In 1933, 14 elephants died near a forest in the southern state of Tamil Nadu after consuming kodo millets, according to a report, external co-authored by ecologist Raman Sukumar and mycologist TS Suryanarayanan in Down to Earth magazine.
Mr Sukumar, who has worked extensively on the Asian elephant and human–wildlife conflict, told the BBC that elephants frequently eat millets when they enter fields looking for food.
Elephants have a good sense of smell, but mycotoxins are odourless and tasteless.
“My sense is that elephants tried to eat as much as possible in as little time as possible because they knew that farmers would chase them away,” he said.
He adds that weather also likely played a role in the fungal growth on the millets. Days before the deaths, there were heavy rains in the region, producing moist conditions conducive to fungal infection.
After news reports began blaming kodo millets, authorities destroyed some crops in villages close to the national park.
The toxicology report recommends surveying and destroying the residue of the fungus-infected crop and preventing the entry of domestic and wild animals into such fields.
But farmers in the area said that they have been growing kodo millets for years without any adverse events.
Mr Sukumar also says it is still rare for fungal infections to produce mycotoxins in kodo millets.
“The elephants were unfortunate this time,” he says.
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