Hubbry Logo
search
logo
2313437

Proso millet

logo
Community Hub0 Subscribers
Write something...
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
See all
Proso millet

Panicum miliaceum is a grain crop with many common names, including proso millet, broomcorn millet, common millet, hog millet, Kashfi millet, red millet, and white millet. Archaeobotanical evidence suggests millet was first domesticated about 10,000 BP in Northern China. Major cultivated areas include Northern China, Himachal Pradesh of India, Nepal, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Middle East, Turkey, Romania, and the Great Plains states of the United States. About 500,000 acres (200,000 hectares) are grown each year.[better source needed] The crop is notable both for its extremely short lifecycle, with some varieties producing grain only 60 days after planting, and its low water requirements, producing grain more efficiently per unit of moisture than any other grain species tested. The name "proso millet" comes from the pan-Slavic general and generic name for millet (Serbo-Croatian: proso/просо, Czech: proso, Polish: proso, Russian: просо).

Proso millet is a relative of foxtail millet, pearl millet, maize, and sorghum within the grass subfamily Panicoideae. While all of these crops use C4 photosynthesis, the others all employ the NADP-ME as their primary carbon shuttle pathway, while the primary C4 carbon shuttle in proso millet is the NAD-ME pathway.

Panicum miliaceum is a tetraploid species with a base chromosome number of 18, twice the base chromosome number of diploid species within its genus Panicum. The species appears to be an allotetraploid resulting from a wide hybrid between two different diploid ancestors. One of the two subgenomes within proso millet appears to have come from either P. capillare or a close relative of that species. The second subgenome does not show close homology to any known diploid Panicum species, but some unknown diploid ancestor apparently also contributed a copy of its genome to a separate allotetraploid species P. repens (torpedo grass). The two subgenomes within proso millet are estimated to have diverged 5.6 million years ago. However, the species has experienced only limited amounts of fractionation and copies of most genes are still retained on both subgenomes. A sequenced version of the proso millet genome, estimated to be around 920 megabase pairs in size, was published in 2019.

Weedy and feral types are classified as Panicum ruderale(Kitag.) Chang comb. Nov. or Panicum miliaceum subsp. ruderale. A 2018 report developed a morphometric analysis method which distinguishes seeds of P. miliaceum and P. ruderale on the basis of micromorphology.

Weedy forms of proso millet are found throughout central Asia, covering a widespread area from the Caspian Sea east to Xinjiang and Mongolia. These may represent the wild progenitor of proso millet or feral escapes from domesticated production. Indeed, in the United States, weedy proso millet, representing feral escapes from cultivation, are now common, suggesting current proso millet cultivars retain the potential to revert, similar to the pattern seen for weedy rice.[citation needed] Currently, the earliest archeological evidence for domesticated proso millet comes from the Cishan site in semiarid north east China around 8,000 BCE. Because early varieties of proso millet had such a short lifecycle, as little as 45 days from planting to harvest, they are thought to have made it possible for seminomadic tribes to first adopt agriculture, forming a bridge between hunter-gatherer-focused lifestyles and early agricultural civilizations. Archaeological charred grains of common millet were found in several Neolithic sites in Europe and Transcaucasia but radiocarbon dates obtained thanks to AMS method directly from the grains, indicated that it appeared in that area in the 2nd millennium BC. At around 1700 BCE, broomcorn millet was present north of the Black Sea, 1450 BCE in central Europe, and 1200 BCE in northern Europe.

Proso millet is a relatively low-demanding crop, and diseases are not known; consequently, it is often used in organic farming systems in Europe. In the United States, it is often used as an intercrop. Thus, proso millet can help to avoid a summer fallow, and continuous crop rotation can be achieved. Its superficial root system and its resistance to atrazine residue make proso millet a good intercrop between two water- and pesticide-demanding crops. The stubbles of the last crop, by allowing more heat into the soil, result in a faster and earlier millet growth. While millet occupies the ground, because of its superficial root system, the soil can replenish its water content for the next crop. Later crops, for example, a winter wheat, can in turn benefit from the millet stubble, which act as snow accumulators. P. miliaceum is commonly classified into five races, miliaceum, patentissimum, contractum, compactum, and ovatum.

Due to its C4 photosynthetic system, proso millet is thermophilic like maize, so shady locations of the field should be avoided. It is sensitive to temperatures lower than 10 to 13 °C (50 to 55 °F). Proso millet is highly drought-resistant, which makes it of interest to regions with low water availability and longer periods without rain. The soil should be light or medium-heavy. Due to its flat root systems, soil compaction must be avoided. Furthermore, proso millet does not tolerate soil wetness caused by dammed-up water.

A 2019 study found different cultivars have significantly different effects on rhizosphere assemblage, and also that Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Gemmatimonadetes, Firmicutes, Verrucomicrobia, and Planctomycetes are the most common members, in declining order.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.