Views: 5 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2023-02-02 Origin: Site
Millets are a highly diverse group of small-seeded grasses that are widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains used as fodder and human food.Most of the species commonly referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets also belong to various other taxa.Millet is an important crop in the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa (especially South India,Mali,Nigeria and Niger),with 97% of millet production in developing countries.The crop is favored for its high yields and short growing season in dry, hot conditions.Millet is indigenous to many parts of the world.The most widely grown millets are sorghum and pearl millet,which are important crops in India and parts of Africa.Means millet, millet and millet are also important crop varieties.Millet may have been eaten by humans for about 7,000 years and may have "played a key role in the rise of multi-crop agriculture and settled agricultural societies."
Description 
In general,millets are small annual,warm-weather grains belonging to the grass family.They are highly tolerant to drought and other extreme weather conditions and have a similar nutrient profile to other staple grains.
Millet species
Different species of millet are not necessarily closely related.They are all members of the grass family (Poaceae),but can belong to different tribes or even subfamilies.The most common cultivated millets are shown in bold italics.The Eragrostideae tribe in the Chloridoideae subfamily:
Teff: teff; not usually recognized as millet
Panicoideae Paniceae tribe:
Panicum genus:
Panicum miliaceum:Proso millet (common millet,sorghum millet,pig millet or white millet,also called baragu in Kannada and panivaragu in Tamil).
Panicum sumatrense:small millet (also known as Saamey in Kannada in Telugu and Sāmai in Tamil).
Panicum sonorum: Sonoran millet grown in the southwestern United States.
Pennisetum glaucum:pearl millet (Bajra in Hindi, sajjey in Kannada,"Kambu" in Tamil).
Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum).
Setaria italica:Foxtail millet,Italian millet,panic (also known as navaney in Kannada and "thinai" in Tamil).
Crabgrass:of secondary importance as a crop.
Digitaria exilis:known as white fonio, fonio millet and hungry rice or acha rice.
Digitaria iburua: black fonio.
Digitaria compacta:Raishan,cultivated in the Khasi mountains of northeastern India.
Digitaria sanguinalis:Polish millet.
Barnyardgrass:Members of this genus are collectively known as barnyardgrass or barnyardgrass.Other common names to identify these seeds include Jhangora,Samo seeds or Morio / Mario / Moraiaya seeds.Echinochloa esculenta:Japanese weed.Echinochloa frumentacea:Indian barn also known as Sawa millet,Kodisama in Telugu,Kuthirai vaali in Tamil,Bhagar or Varai in Marathi.
Domestication in East Asia
Millet (Panicum miliaceum) and millet (Setaria italica) were important crops beginning in the Early Neolithic period in China.Some of the earliest evidence of millet cultivation in China was found in Cishan (North),where millet husk phytoliths and biomolecular components were found in storage pits,as well as pit houses, pottery and stone Remains of tools associated with millet cultivation.Evidence of millet at Magnetic Hill dates back to about 8,700 years ago.The oldest evidence of noodles in China is a 4,000-year-old pottery bowl containing well-preserved noodles made from these two types of millet found at the Lajia archaeological site in northern China.Paleo-ethnobotanists have found evidence of millet cultivation on the Korean peninsula dating back to the Zhongjimen Pottery Age (c.3500-2000 BC).Millet remained an important element of intensive,multi-cropping agriculture during the Mumen pottery era in Korea (c.1500-300 BC).Millet and its wild ancestors such as barnyard grass and panic grass were also cultivated in Japan during the Jomon period after 4000 BC.Chinese mythology attributes the domestication of millet to the legendary Chinese emperor Shennong and Houji,whose name means Lord Xiaomi.
Domestication in the Indian Subcontinent
Small millet (Panicum sumatrense) is believed to have been domesticated on the Indian subcontinent as early as 5,000 years ago, and kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum) was also domesticated on the Indian subcontinent about 3,700 years ago.Several Yajurveda texts mention various millets,identifying millet millet (priyaṅgu),barnyard millet (aṇu) and black finger millet,suggesting that millet cultivation occurred in India around 1200 BC: 505 In 2018,at the request of the Indian government,the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) declared 2023 as the International Year of Millet.
Domestication in West Africa
Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) was definitely domesticated in Africa 3,500 years ago,although it is thought to have been as early as 8,000 years ago.160 Early evidence includes discoveries at Birimi in West Africa and the earliest at Dhar Tichitt in Mauritania.Pearl millet was domesticated in the Sahel region of West Africa, where its wild ancestors are found.Evidence of pearl millet cultivation in Mali dates back to 2500 BC,pearl millet was discovered in the Indian subcontinent by 2300 BC.
Domestication in East Africa
Finger millet is native to the highlands of East Africa and was domesticated before the third millennium BC.By 1800 BC its cultivation had spread to South India.
