Thanks Dipak for your clarifications, and Joni for your question. I'm proposing to retitle this fork in the thread to make it easier for others to find later in the list archives.

I'm interested in clarifying this space, because there are two species of Echinochloa (primarily) that are referred to with various related common names, and sometimes the same one. Here's my layperson's understanding of what is obviously a very complicated space:

* E. esculenta, is apparently descended from the wild E. crus-galli, and domesticated in Japan as a food crop./1 I see one extension page where  E. crus-galli is listed as a forage crop, with the common name "barnyard grass,"/2 and others where E. esculenta with common name "Japanese millet," is also listed as a forage crop,/3 or cover crop as DIpak indicated. E. esculenta is often called Japanese millet or Japanese barnyard millet.

* E. frumentacea, is apparently descended from the wild E. colona, and domesticated somewhere in South Asia (?)./4 E. frumentacea as a forage crop is also called Japanese millet,/5 unhelpfully, as well as billion dollar grass./6  It is sometimes considered a weed./7 I have the impression that most if not all of the commercialized "barnyard millet" food products from India are from E. frumentacea. Another term is "Indian barnyard millet."

One extension site, also unhelpfully, lumps the two species together under the name "Japanese millet," as forage crops./8

I'd be most interested to know of cases where either of the above are grown in North America for food quality grain, on a commercial  or even a small-scale, basis, for whatever use or market. No idea, Joni, about the particular issues with dehulling any of these.

This is very quick and inadequate, but hopefully not misleading.

By the way, this subgroup of millets will collectively be the "millet-of-the-month," under the heading "barnyard millet," in July

Don.

DO, EL, MI, US
NAMA

Notes (sorry, these were hastily and unsystematically gathered):
5. For example at https://midwestcovercrops.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/MCCC_Proceedings-2012.pdf (page 51 in the concatenation of documents with individual page numbers) 
6. https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/plantmaterials/mspmcrb13988.pdf (this document concerns a variety called "chiwapa")


On Sat, Jun 17, 2023 at 1:28 PM Joni Kindwall-Moore <joni@snacktivistfoods.com> wrote:
Has anyone had experience with dehulling Japanese millet? Is it similar to dehulling Proso millet? 

On Sun, Jun 11, 2023 at 2:06 PM Dipak Santra via Collab <collab@lists.millets2023.space> wrote:

Japanese millet (Echinochloa esculenta), also called barnyard millet, possibly is used in cover crop mix and as human food 9after dehulling (like other millet) for ethnic population (mainly Indian) in North America. It is very popular in India grocery stores what I have seen.

 

Dipak

 

 

 

Dipak Santra, Ph.D. 

Associate Professor (Alternative Crops Breeding Specialist) 

President, International Broomcorn Millet Association 

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture 

University of Nebraska–Lincoln 

Panhandle Research & Extension Center 

4502 Ave I, Scottsbluff, NE 69361 

(308) 632-1244 (work) / (308) 765-2324 (cell) 

 

 

From: Collab <collab-bounces@lists.millets2023.space> On Behalf Of Don Osborn
Sent: Saturday, June 10, 2023 10:47 PM
To: Brenner, David (CTR) - REE-ARS <david.brenner@usda.gov>
Cc: collab@lists.millets2023.space
Subject: Re: [Collab] National Public Radio on millets, June 8, 2023

 

Non-NU Email

Thank you, David, I appreciate your sharing this. It's of course another version of the radio segment that aired last month on a more local scale (Kansas CIty, apparently):

https://www.kcur.org/2023-05-17/millets-drought-climate-united-nations . Altho shorter, the NPR Morning Edition version captures all the main points. And of course it went out nationally in the US, which is great.

 

Regarding the content of the segment, I'm particularly curious to know more about the Japanese millet (Echinochloa esculenta) that Linus Rothermich is growing - what are the markets for this grain in North America? I am aware of the plant's use as forage and for wildlife in the US.

 

TIA for any more info,

 

Don


DO, EL, MI, US

NAMA

 

bcc: Rob Myers

 

 

On Fri, Jun 9, 2023 at 1:18 PM Brenner, David (CTR) - REE-ARS <david.brenner@usda.gov> wrote:

 

 

Image removed by sender.

The United Nations declares 2023 the International Year of Millets

Millets, an alternative crop to corn and soybeans, is getting new attention in the U.S. The resilient grain could help U.S. farmers survive climate change.

www.npr.org

 

 

 





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