Generally , millet are small - grained , yearly , warm - weather cereal belonging to the forage category . They are highly liberal of drought and other extreme weather conditions and have a similar nutrient content to other major cereals . Millet is desirable for human nutrient because it is easily digestible and gluten - free . It can be ground into flour , used to bake flatbreads , used to make tabbouleh , or for brewing beer . The different species of millets are not of necessity closely related to . All are members of the family Poaceae ( the Gunter Grass ) but can belong to different subfamily .
Classification of Millets
Millets are broadly divided into two major categories - defenseless and shell grains :
Types of Millet
Finger Millet
Finger Jean Francois Millet is a racy tillering grass which grows in tufts . It has vertical , swooning dark-green fore . The leaves of the plant are dark immature , analogue and primarily still with some hair along the foliage edges . The inflorescence of the works is a cluster of 3–26 ‘ fingers ’ composed of dense prickle where the grain , or germ , is produced . Finger millet can reach 1.7 m ( 5.6 ft ) in height and is an yearly plant , harvest after one growing season . The germ , which may be bloodless , scant Robert Brown , or dark brownness , are run through in a variety of forms including as unraised lolly made from polished flour . Various types of porridge and alcoholic beverages are also prepared from the seeds . Finger millet may also be have-to doe with to as African fingermillet , goosegrass
Foxtail millet
foxtail are so mention for their prickle bunch of thorny seeds , which are dissipate as a social unit and somewhat resemble the shaggy-coated seat of a slyboots . Foxtail millet is cogitate to be aboriginal to Southern Asia and is deliberate one of the oldest crop Millet . It is an annual , warm - time of year crop that grows 2 - 5 infantry marvelous . The stem are course and leafy , and more slender than those of pearl millet . It can form one or more tillering shoot . The yellowish or purple nodding anthesis is compose of a main stalk with many side branches . The deadhead are heavy and bristly and the oval , convex seed grain can be a variety of colours .
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Pearl millet
Pearl millet is a very robust pasturage which tillers widely and grows in tufts . It has sylphlike stem which are divided into distinct nodes . The farewell of the plant are linear or lance - same , possess minuscule teeth and can grow up to 3.3 feet in length . The anthesis of the plant is a spike - like panicle , made up of many smaller spikelets where the metric grain is produced . Pearl millet can reach 1.5–13 understructure in height depend on the cultivar and is an annual works , harvested after one growing time of year . Pearl millet may also be concern to as bulrush millet , cat - tail millet or yellow-bellied bristle pasture .
Guinea Millet
Guinea millet is an one-year smoke that grows up to 70 centimetre tall . It has weak and svelte stems that are finely pubescent . The stem extend into roots at the low-down knob . folio alternate across the stem turn and are a linear - lanceolate shape with a pale leaf sheath . Inflorescence simulate a panicle with 7 - 15 racemes on a 6 - 15 cm long axis . These recemes are broadly oval-shaped and have spikelets up to 15 millimetre long . It matures in 90 - 130 days and flowers throughout the year .
Japanese millet
Nipponese Jean Francois Millet is an annual , warm - season grass that is grown primarily as forage and wildlife home ground in the United States . This plant can grow to 60″ ( 1.5 K ) in height and has long , flat parting which are often purple at the fundament . Most stems are upright , but some will spread out over the dry land . stem are flatten at the substructure . The seed heads are a distinctive feature article , often purple , with big millet - same seeds in crowded spikelets . The spikelets are awnless , slightly warty , with bristly nerves . Japanese millet is also suited for silage , but not for hay . It is feed green to animals and provides fodder throughout the twelvemonth ; hay made from this plant life can be kept up to 6 old age .
Little Millet
The Little Millet is believed to have originated in India . It is grown and used for food almost many countries in Africa , Asia and India . This mintage of grain is standardised in use to the proso millet except that it is small . It is an annual herbaceous flora , which uprise straight or with folded blades to a height of 30 centimetres . The leaves are linear , with the sometimes hairy laminae and membraneous hairy ligules . The green flora can also be used in part as cattle feed . The straw can be mixed with clay or cement be used in construction .
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Proso Millet
Proso Millet is a warm - season crop open of producing seeds 60 to 90 days after planting . It is also bear on to as vulgar millet , hog millet , broom corn , yellow hog , hershey and white millet . It has been grown in many countries include China , Ukraine , Russia , Africa and India . The food grain are primarily used for human usance . The whole grains are boiled , roasted , cooked into porridge , ground , baked into flat bread or chapatti .
Proso millet is often planted as an pinch cash crop for berth where other crops have failed , been hailed out or were never planted due to unfavorable conditions . Proso millet may also be beneficial in a crop gyration . In a gyration , it has the advantage of enhancing weed ascendence , particularly with winter annual grasses in wintertime wheat .
Kodo Millet
Kodo Millet is a monocot tufted yearly or perennial skunk that develop up to 150 cm tall . The industrial plant typically occur in seasonally oversupply field and wet depressions , often connection with cultivation and settlement , such as along roadsides , ditch , and waste ground and Sir Tim Rice landing field . Stems are rather stout , not or sparingly branched , glabrous or thin provide with rather long hairs . blade are pallid greenish whereas the folio case and leave are glabrous . The seed it produces are very small and ellipsoidal , being roughly 1.5 mm in breadth and 2 mm in duration ; they diverge in vividness from being light dark-brown to a dark grey . The plant has shallow root system which may be idealistic for intercropping .
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Fonio Millet
Fonio also referred to as ‘ hungry millet ’ or ‘ athirst rice ’ is type of millet widely educate in West Africa . Fonio may be Africa ’s oldest cultivated cereal crop , with an ancient lineage move back more than 5,000 years . Archeologists have even found it sink in tombs in the Egyptian pyramids . White fonio is mainly cultivated from Senegal to Chad while black fonio is grown mainly in Nigeria as well as the northern regions of Togo and Benin .
Fonio is an annual plant with a flora meridian of 45–50 cm . The roots are well develop and attached firmly to the ground . The anthesis is write of two to six fingers of 5–12.5 cm duration . Fonio give very little pith that are milled into flour , which are mainly used for preparation of porridge , couscous , traditional bread , and unintelligible beer . The grain can be add together to stews , or boiled and eaten with thenar oil . Fonio can also be used for brewing beer . In equivalence with other cereals , fonio has a poor nutritional value in term of full protein and aminic - acid balance .
What you need to know about Millets
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