Foxtail millet

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Foxtail millet
Japanese Foxtail millet 02.jpg
Immature seedhead
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Panicoideae
Genus: Setaria
Species:
S. italica
Binomial name
Setaria italica
(L.) P. Beauvois
Synonyms

See § Synonyms

Foxtail millet (Setaria italica) seeds, India. Foxtail millet (Setaria italica).jpg
Foxtail millet (Setaria italica) seeds, India.

Foxtail millet, scientific name Setaria italica (synonym Panicum italicum L.), is an annual grass grown for human food. It is the second-most widely planted species of millet, and the most grown millet species in Asia. The oldest evidence of foxtail millet cultivation was found along the ancient course of the Yellow River in Cishan, China, carbon dated to be from around 8,000 years before present. [1] [2] [3] Foxtail millet has also been grown in India since antiquity.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Other names for the species include dwarf setaria, foxtail bristle-grass, giant setaria, green foxtail, Italian millet, German millet, and Hungarian millet. [4] [5]

Description

Foxtail millet is an annual grass with slim, vertical, leafy stems which can reach a height of 120–200 cm (3 ft 11 in – 6 ft 7 in).

The seedhead is a dense, hairy panicle 5–30 cm (2 in – 1 ft 0 in) long.

The small seeds, around 2 millimetres (3⁄32 in) in diameter, are encased in a thin, papery hull which is easily removed in threshing. Seed color varies greatly between varieties.

Taxonomy

Synonyms: [6]

Common names for foxtail millet in other languages spoken in the countries where it is cultivated include:

Cultivation

In India, foxtail millet is still an important crop in its arid and semi-arid regions. [12] In South India, it has been a staple diet among people for a long time from the Sangam period. It is referred to often in old Tamil texts and is commonly associated with Lord Muruga and his consort Valli.

In Karbi Anglong district of Assam, India, millets have been an integral part of the food system of the Karbis as well as the Jhum fields. Hanjangmilen, Karbi name of foxtail millets have been visible in the Jhum fields in the past. But today it is hardly visible in the Jhum fields. But farmers are now bringing the traditional crop back into their food system which needs little water, grows well on poor soil, is fast-growing and suffers from very few diseases.

In China, foxtail millet was the main staple food in the north before Sung Dynasty, when wheat started to become the main staple food. It is still the most common millet and one of the main food crops in the dry northern part of the country, especially among the poor. In Southeast Asia, foxtail millet is commonly cultivated in its dry, upland regions. [13] In Europe and North America it is planted at a moderate scale for hay and silage, and to a more limited extent for birdseed.

In the northern Philippines, foxtail millet was once an important staple crop, until its later replacement by wet-rice and sweet potato cultivation. [14]

It is a warm season crop, typically planted in late spring. Harvest for hay or silage can be made in 65–70 days with a typical yield of 15,000–20,000 kilograms per hectare (6.7–8.9 short ton/acre) of green matter or 3,000–4,000 kilograms per hectare (1.3–1.8 short ton/acre) of hay. Harvest for grain is in 75–90 days with a typical yield of 800–900 kilograms per hectare (0.36–0.40 short ton/acre) of grain. Its early maturity and efficient use of available water make it suitable for raising in dry areas.

Pests

Diseases of foxtail millet include leaf and head blast disease caused by Magnaporthe grisea , smut disease caused by Ustilago crameri , and green ear caused by Sclerospora graminicola . The unharvested crop is also susceptible to attack by birds and rodents. Insect pests include Atherigona atripalpis , the foxtail millet shoot fly. [15]

Insects

Insect pests include: [16]

Leaf feeders
Earhead feeders
Others

History and domestication

The wild ancestor of foxtail millet has been securely identified as Setaria viridis , which is interfertile with foxtail millet; wild or weedy forms of foxtail millet also exist. Zohary and Hopf note that the primary difference between the wild and cultivated forms is "their seed dispersal biology. Wild and weedy forms shatter their seed while the cultivars retain them." [17] The reference genome for foxtail millet was completed in 2012. [12] [18] [19] Genetic comparisons also confirm that S. viridis is the antecedent of S. italica. [12]

The earliest evidence of the cultivation of this grain comes from the Peiligang culture of China, which also cultivated Panicum miliaceum , but foxtail millet became the predominant grain only with the Yangshao culture. [17] More recently, the Cishan culture of China has been identified as the earliest to domesticate foxtail millet around 6500–5500 BC. [20] [3]

The earliest evidence for foxtail millet cultivation outside of its native distribution is at Chengtoushan in the Middle Yangtze River region, dating to around 4000 BC. [13] In southern China, foxtail millet reached the Chengdu Plain (Baodun) at around 2700 BC [21] and Guangxi (near the Vietnamese border) at around 3000 BC. [13] Foxtail millet also reached Taiwan (Nankuanli, Dapenkeng culture) at around 2800 BC [22] and the Tibetan Plateau (Karuo) at around 3000 BC. [13]

Foxtail millet likely reached Southeast Asia via multiple routes. [13] The earliest evidence for foxtail millet in Southeast Asia comes from various sites in the Khao Wong Prachan Valley in central Thailand, with the site at Non Pa Wai providing the earliest date with direct AMS dating to around 2300 BC. [13] [23]

The earliest evidence for foxtail millet in East Siberia comes from the archaeological site at Krounovka 1 in Primorsky Krai, dating to around 3620–3370 BC. [12] [24] The earliest direct evidence for foxtail millet in Korea come from Dongsam-dong Shell Midden, a Jeulmun site in southern Korea, with a direct AMS date of around 3,360 BC. [12] [25] In Japan, the earliest evidence for foxtail millet comes from the Jōmon site at Usujiri in Hokkaido, dating to around 4,000 BP. [12]

Foxtail millet arrived in Europe later; carbonized seeds first appear in the second millennium BC in central Europe. The earliest definite evidence for its cultivation in the Near East is at the Iron Age levels at Tille Hoyuk in Turkey, with an uncorrected radiocarbon date of about 600 BC. [17]

Agronomic genetics

As with some other cereals the waxy gene contributes to glutinousness. [3] The wild relative Setaria viridis provides genetic resources useful for foxtail breeding. [26] [27]

One study found that – for the rabi crop in Tamil Nadu – breeding for foxtail yield should begin from germplasm with the most productive tillers, medium panicle length and medium duration. [28] [29] [30]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proso millet</span> Species of grass

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 are grown each year. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">9th millennium BC</span> Millennium between 9000 BC and 8001 BC

The 9th millennium BC spanned the years 9000 BC to 8001 BC. In chronological terms, it is the first full millennium of the current Holocene epoch that is generally reckoned to have begun by 9700 BC. It is impossible to precisely date events that happened around the time of this millennium and all dates mentioned here are estimates mostly based on geological and anthropological analysis, or by radiometric dating.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North China</span> Place in Peoples Republic of China

North China is a geographical region of China, consisting of the provinces of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia. Part of the larger region of Northern China (Beifang), it lies north of the Qinling–Huaihe Line, with its heartland in the North China Plain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pearl millet</span> Species of cultivated grass

Pearl millet is the most widely grown type of millet. It has been grown in Africa and the Indian subcontinent since prehistoric times. The center of diversity, and suggested area of domestication, for the crop is in the Sahel zone of West Africa. Recent archaeobotanical research has confirmed the presence of domesticated pearl millet on the Sahel zone of northern Mali between 2500 and 2000 BC. 2023 is the International Year of Millets, declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 2021.

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Panicum mosaic virus (PMV) is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA viral pathogen that infects plant species in the panicoid tribe of the grass family, Poaceae. The pathogen was first identified in Kansas in 1953 and most commonly causes disease on select cultivars of turf grass, switchgrass, and millet. The disease most commonly associated with the panicum mosaic virus pathogen is St. Augustine Decline Syndrome, which infects species of turf grass and causes chlorotic mottling. In addition to St. Augustine Decline, panicum mosaic virus is responsible for chlorotic streaking and mild green mosaicking in select cultivars of switchgrass and millet.

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<i>Panicum sumatrense</i> Species of grass

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<i>Setaria viridis</i> Species of grass

Setaria viridis is a species of grass known by many common names, including green foxtail, green bristlegrass, and wild foxtail millet. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of Setaria italica. It is native to Eurasia, but it is known on most continents as an introduced species and is closely related to Setaria faberi, a noxious weed. It is a hardy grass which grows in many types of urban, cultivated, and disturbed habitat, including vacant lots, sidewalks, railroads, lawns, and at the margins of fields. It is the wild antecedent of the crop foxtail millet.

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<i>Atherigona</i> Genus of flies

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References

  1. ↑ Houyuan Lu; et al. (2009), Earliest domestication of common millet (Panicum miliaceum) in East Asia extended to 10,000 years ago, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Our analytical results of both phytoliths and biomolecular components have established that the earliest cereal remains stored in the Cishan Neolithic sites, during ca. 10,300–8,700 cal yr BP, are not foxtail millet, but only common millet. After 8,700 cal yr BP, the grain crops gradually contained 0.4–2.8% foxtail millet .
  2. ↑ Ian S Hornsey (2012). Alcohol and its Role in the Evolution of Human Society. pp. 254–256 (chapter 4.7.3).
  3. 1 2 3 Purugganan, Michael D.; Fuller, Dorian Q. (2009). "The nature of selection during plant domestication". Nature . Nature Research. 457 (7231): 843–848. Bibcode:2009Natur.457..843P. doi:10.1038/nature07895. ISSN   0028-0836. PMID   19212403. S2CID   205216444.
  4. ↑ "Setaria italica". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  5. ↑ BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  6. ↑ "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species" . Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  7. ↑ Supomno, S. "Chapter 15. Indic Transformation: The Sanskritization of Jawa and the Javanization of the Bharata" (PDF). The Austronesians - ANU Press. ANU Press. p. 331. Retrieved 5 Dec 2021.
  8. ↑ "Carian Umum - Sekoi". Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu - PRPM. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka - DBP. Retrieved 5 Dec 2021.
  9. ↑ "Carian Umum - Jawawut". Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu - PRPM. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka - DBP. Retrieved 5 Dec 2021.
  10. ↑ Lillian M. Li (2010). Fighting Famine in North China: State, Market, and Environmental Decline, 1690s-1990s. Stanford University Press. pp. 93–94. ISBN   978-0804771818.
  11. ↑ Monier Williams (1899). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Diao, Xianmin; Jia, Guanqing (2017). "Origin and Domestication of Foxtail Millet". In Doust, Andrew; Xianmin Diao (eds.). Genetics and Genomics of Setaria. Plant Genetics and Genomics: Crops and Models. Vol. 19. pp. 61–72. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-45105-3_4. ISBN   978-3-319-45103-9. ISSN   2363-9601.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Castillo, Cristina (2010). "Still too fragmentary and dependent upon chance? Advances in the study of early Southeast Asian archaeobotany". In Bellina, Bérénice (ed.). 50 Years of Archaeology in Southeast Asia. ISBN   978-6167339023.
  14. ↑ Sheahan, C.M. "Plant guide for foxtail millet (Setaria italica)" (PDF). USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, Cape May Plant Materials Center. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  15. ↑ Kalaisekar, A.; Padmaja, P.G.; Bhagwat, V.R.; Patil, J.V. (2017). Insect Pests of Millets: Systematics, Bionomics, and Management. Academic Press (AP). ISBN   978-0-12-804243-4.
  16. ↑ Kalaisekar, A (2017). Insect pests of millets: systematics, bionomics, and management. London: Elsevier. ISBN   978-0-12-804243-4. OCLC   967265246.
  17. 1 2 3 Zohary, Daniel; Hopf, Maria, eds. (2000). Domestication of Plants in the Old World (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press (OUP). pp. 86–88. ISBN   978-0198503569.
  18. ↑ Zhang, Gengyun; Liu, Xin; Quan, Zhiwu; et al. (2012). "Genome sequence of foxtail millet (Setaria italica) provides insights into grass evolution and biofuel potential". Nature Biotechnology . 30 (6): 549–554. doi: 10.1038/nbt.2195 . ISSN   1087-0156. PMID   22580950.
  19. ↑ Bennetzen, Jeffrey L; Schmutz, Jeremy; Wang, Hao; et al. (2012). "Reference genome sequence of the model plant Setaria" (PDF). Nature Biotechnology . 30 (6): 555–561. doi: 10.1038/nbt.2196 . ISSN   1087-0156. PMID   22580951. S2CID   4003879.
  20. ↑ Stevens, C. J.; Murphy, C.; Roberts, R.; et al. (2016). "Between China and South Asia: A Middle Asian corridor of crop dispersal and agricultural innovation in the Bronze Age". The Holocene . 26 (10): 1541–1555. Bibcode:2016Holoc..26.1541S. doi:10.1177/0959683616650268. ISSN   0959-6836. PMC   5125436 . PMID   27942165.
  21. ↑ Guedes, Jade d'Alpoim; et al. (2013). "Site of Baodun yields earliest evidence for the spread of rice and foxtail millet agriculture to south-west China". Antiquity. 87 (337): 758–771. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00049449. S2CID   55279328.
  22. ↑ Bellwood, Peter (2011). "The Checkered Prehistory of Rice Movement Southwards as a Domesticated Cereal—from the Yangzi to the Equator". Rice. 4 (93): 93–103. doi: 10.1007/s12284-011-9068-9 . hdl: 1885/58842 .
  23. ↑ Weber, Steve (2010). "Rice or millets: early farming strategies in prehistoric central Thailand". Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. 2 (2): 79–88. doi:10.1007/s12520-010-0030-3. S2CID   140535295.
  24. ↑ Kuzmin, Yaroslav V. (2013). "The beginnings of prehistoric agriculture in the Russian Far East: Current evidence and concepts". Documenta Praehistorica. 40: 1–12. doi: 10.4312/dp.40.1 .
  25. ↑ Crawford, Gary W.; Lee, Gyoung-Ah (2015). "Agricultural origins in the Korean Peninsula". Antiquity. 77 (295): 87–95. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00061378. ISSN   0003-598X. S2CID   163060564.
  26. ↑ Sun, Yanqing; Shang, Lianguang; Zhu, Qian-Hao; Fan, Longjiang; Guo, Longbiao (2022). "Twenty years of plant genome sequencing: achievements and challenges". Trends in Plant Science. 27 (4): 391–401. doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2021.10.006. ISSN   1360-1385. PMID   34782248. S2CID   244081566.
  27. ↑ Mamidi, Sujan; Healey, Adam; Huang, Pu; et al. (2020). "A genome resource for green millet Setaria viridis enables discovery of agronomically valuable loci". Nature Biotechnology . 38 (10): 1203–1210. doi:10.1038/s41587-020-0681-2. ISSN   1087-0156. PMC   7536120 . PMID   33020633. S2CID   222151529.
  28. ↑ Lata, Charu; Gupta, Sarika; Prasad, Manoj (2012). "Foxtail millet: a model crop for genetic and genomic studies in bioenergy grasses". Critical Reviews in Biotechnology. 33 (3): 328–343. doi:10.3109/07388551.2012.716809. ISSN   0738-8551.
  29. ↑ Ingle, Krishnananda P.; Suprasanna, P; Narkhede, Gopal Wasudeo; Ceasar, Antony; Abdi, Gholamreza; Raina, Aamir; Moharil, M. P.; Singh, Atul (2022). "Biofortified foxtail millet: towards a more nourishing future". Plant Growth Regulation. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. 99 (1): 25–34. doi:10.1007/s10725-022-00900-2. ISSN   0167-6903.
  30. ↑ Nirmalakumari, A.; Vetriventhan, Mani (2010). "Characterization of foxtail millet germplasm collections for yield contributing traits". Electronic Journal of Plant Breeding. 1 (2): 140–147. ISSN   0975-928X. S2CID   82737674.
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