The July Millet-of-the-Month, barnyard millet, is actually 2 main species
of Echinochloa - E. esculenta "Japanese barnyard millet," which was
domesticated in Japan, and a minor crop in NE Asia and also India, and E.
frumentacea "Indian barnyard millet," which originated in South Asia and is
a crop in India and neighboring countries, as well as in parts of east &
central Africa./1
"Barnyard millet (Echinochloa species) has become one of the most important
minor millet crops in Asia, showing a firm upsurge in world production. The
genus Echinochloa comprises of two major species, E. esculenta and E.
frumentacea, which are predominantly cultivated for human consumption and
livestock feed."/2
In North America (and primarily the US), "Japanese millet" refers to
either/both species, or more properly to E. esculenta. E. frumentacea is
sometimes called "billion dollar grass." Both have been used for forage and
wildlife habitat. It does not seem that either have been grown for human
consumption. Do either of them have potential as specialty grain crops in
selected regions of the continent?
The Echinochloa spp. group is complicated, as you may have noted already
from some discussions on this list. It also includes a couple of other
species discussed as precursors to the two discussed above, which
themselves have several varieties. Two other species are apparently
cultivated on small scales for food in southern China, and yet another was
cultivated in parts of Africa (such as central Mali)./1 /3 This group needs
more research on varieties as well as possible plant-breeding; the
possibility of hybrids of the two main species has also been raised.
Watch this space?
Don Osborn, PhD
(East Lansing, MI, US)
North American Millets Alliance
Notes:
1. Salej Sood, "Barnyard millet – a potential food and feed crop of
future," Plant Breeding, https://doi.org/10.1111/pbr.12243
2. Vellaichamy Gandhimeyyan Renganathan, et al, "Barnyard Millet for Food
and Nutritional Security: Current Status and Future Research Direction,"
Frontiers in Genetics, 11, 2020 https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2020.00500
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echinochloa
