Proso millet
Encyclopedia
Proso millet is also known as common millet, hog millet or white millet. Both the wild ancestor and the location of domestication
of proso millet are unknown, but it first appears as a crop in both Transcaucasia
and China
about 7,000 years ago, suggesting that it may have been domesticated independently in each area. It is still extensively cultivated in India
, Russia
, Ukraine
, the Middle East
, Turkey
and Romania
. In the United States
, proso is mainly grown for birdseed. It is sold as health food and due to its lack of gluten
it can be included in the diets of people who cannot tolerate wheat
.
Proso is well adapted to many soil and climatic conditions; it has a short growing season, and needs little water
. The water requirement of proso is probably the lowest of any major cereal
. It is an excellent crop for dryland
and no-till farming
. Proso millet is an annual
grass
whose plants reach an average height of 100 cm (4 feet.) The seedheads grow in bunches. The seed
s are small (2-3 mm or .1 inch or so) and can be cream, yellow, orange-red, or brown in colour.
Proso is an annual grass like all other millet
s, but it is not closely related to pearl millet
, foxtail millet
, finger millet
, or the barnyard millets
.
, the wild ancestor of the proso millet has not yet been satisfactorily identified. Weedy forms of this grain are found in central Asia, covering a widespread area from the Caspian Sea
east to Xinjiang
and Mongolia
, and it may be that these semi-arid areas may harbor "genuinely wild miliaceum forms." This millet has been reportedly found in Neolithic
sites in Georgia
(dated to the fifth and fourth millennia BC), as well as excavated Yangshao culture
farming villages east in China. Proso millet appears to have reached Europe not long after its appearance in Georgia, first appearing in east and central Europe; however, the grain needed a few thousand more years to cross into Italy, Greece, and Iran, and the earliest evidence for its cultivation in the Near East is a find in the ruins of Nimrud
, Iraq
dated to about 700 BC.
While Proso millet is not a member of the Neolithic Near East crop assemblage
, it arrived in Europe no later than the time these introductions did, and that proso millet is an independent domestication that could predate the arrival of the Near East grain crops.
In the United States, former Soviet Union, and some South American countries, it is primarily grown for livestock feed.
Domestication
Domestication or taming is the process whereby a population of animals or plants, through a process of selection, becomes accustomed to human provision and control. In the Convention on Biological Diversity a domesticated species is defined as a 'species in which the evolutionary process has been...
of proso millet are unknown, but it first appears as a crop in both Transcaucasia
South Caucasus
The South Caucasus is a geopolitical region located on the border of Eastern Europe and Southwest Asia also referred to as Transcaucasia, or The Trans-Caucasus...
and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
about 7,000 years ago, suggesting that it may have been domesticated independently in each area. It is still extensively cultivated in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, proso is mainly grown for birdseed. It is sold as health food and due to its lack of gluten
Gluten
Gluten is a protein composite found in foods processed from wheat and related grain species, including barley and rye...
it can be included in the diets of people who cannot tolerate wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
.
Proso is well adapted to many soil and climatic conditions; it has a short growing season, and needs little water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
. The water requirement of proso is probably the lowest of any major cereal
Cereal
Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...
. It is an excellent crop for dryland
Dryland farming
Dryland farming is an agricultural technique for non-irrigated cultivation of drylands.-Locations:Dryland farming is used in the Great Plains, the Palouse plateau of Eastern Washington, and other arid regions of North America, the Middle East and in other grain growing regions such as the steppes...
and no-till farming
No-till farming
No-till farming is a way of growing crops from year to year without disturbing the soil through tillage. No-till is an agricultural technique which increases the amount of water and organic matter in the soil and decreases erosion...
. Proso millet is an annual
Annual plant
An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...
grass
Poaceae
The Poaceae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called grasses, although the term "grass" is also applied to plants that are not in the Poaceae lineage, including the rushes and sedges...
whose plants reach an average height of 100 cm (4 feet.) The seedheads grow in bunches. The seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s are small (2-3 mm or .1 inch or so) and can be cream, yellow, orange-red, or brown in colour.
Proso is an annual grass like all other millet
Millet
The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult...
s, but it is not closely related to pearl millet
Pearl millet
Pearl millet is the most widely grown type of millet. Grown in Africa and the Indian subcontinent since prehistoric times, it is generally accepted that pearl millet originated in Africa and was subsequently introduced into India. The center of diversity, and suggested area of domestication, for...
, foxtail millet
Foxtail millet
Foxtail millet is the second most widely planted species of millet, and the most important in East Asia. It has the longest history of cultivation among the millets, having been grown in China since sometime in the sixth millennium BC...
, finger millet
Finger millet
Eleusine coracana, commonly Finger millet , also known as African millet or Ragi is an annual plant widely grown as a cereal in the arid areas of Africa and Asia. E...
, or the barnyard millets
Echinochloa
Echinochloa is a grass genus, some of whose members are millets grown as cereal or fodder crops. The most notable of these are Japanese Millet in East Asia, Indian barnyard Millet in South Asia and Burgu Millet in West Africa...
.
History and domestication
Unlike the foxtail milletFoxtail millet
Foxtail millet is the second most widely planted species of millet, and the most important in East Asia. It has the longest history of cultivation among the millets, having been grown in China since sometime in the sixth millennium BC...
, the wild ancestor of the proso millet has not yet been satisfactorily identified. Weedy forms of this grain are found in central Asia, covering a widespread area from the Caspian Sea
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
east to Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
and Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, and it may be that these semi-arid areas may harbor "genuinely wild miliaceum forms." This millet has been reportedly found in Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
sites in Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
(dated to the fifth and fourth millennia BC), as well as excavated Yangshao culture
Yangshao culture
The Yangshao culture was a Neolithic culture that existed extensively along the central Yellow River in China. The Yangshao culture is dated from around 5000 BC to 3000 BC. The culture is named after Yangshao, the first excavated representative village of this culture, which was discovered in 1921...
farming villages east in China. Proso millet appears to have reached Europe not long after its appearance in Georgia, first appearing in east and central Europe; however, the grain needed a few thousand more years to cross into Italy, Greece, and Iran, and the earliest evidence for its cultivation in the Near East is a find in the ruins of Nimrud
Nimrud
Nimrud is an ancient Assyrian city located south of Nineveh on the river Tigris in modern Ninawa Governorate Iraq. In ancient times the city was called Kalḫu. The Arabs called the city Nimrud after the Biblical Nimrod, a legendary hunting hero .The city covered an area of around . Ruins of the city...
, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
dated to about 700 BC.
While Proso millet is not a member of the Neolithic Near East crop assemblage
Neolithic founder crops
The Neolithic founder crops are the eight plant species that were domesticated by early Holocene farming communities in the Fertile Crescent region of southwest Asia, and which formed the basis of systematic agriculture in the Middle East, North Africa, India, Persia and Europe...
, it arrived in Europe no later than the time these introductions did, and that proso millet is an independent domestication that could predate the arrival of the Near East grain crops.
Uses
Proso millet is one of the few types of millet not cultivated in Africa.In the United States, former Soviet Union, and some South American countries, it is primarily grown for livestock feed.