Millets are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae.
Finger millet is an annual herbaceous plant widely grown as a cereal crop in the arid and semiarid areas in Africa and Asia. It is a tetraploid and self-pollinating species probably evolved from its wild relative Eleusine africana.
Sorghum or broomcorn is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family (Poaceae). Sorghum bicolor is grown as a cereals for human consumption and as animal fodder.
Fonio, also sometimes called findi or acha, is the term for two cultivated grasses in the genus Digitaria that are important crops in parts of West Africa. The nutritious food with a favorable taste is a vital food source in many rural areas, especially in the mountains of Fouta Djalon, Guinea but it is also cultivated in Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Senegal. The global fonio market was estimated at 721,400 tonnes in 2020. Guinea annually produces the most fonio in the world, accounting for over 75% of the world's production in 2019. The name fonio is from Wolof foño. In West Africa, the species black fonio (Digitaria iburua) and white fonio (Digitaria exilis) are cultivated; the latter is the economically more important crop.
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 was the International Year of Millets, declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 2021.
Digitaria exilis, referred to as findi or fundi in areas of Africa, such as The Gambia, with English common names white fonio, fonio millet, and hungry rice or acha rice, is a grass species. It is the most important of a diverse group of wild and domesticated Digitaria species known as fonio that are harvested in the savannas of West Africa. The grains are very small. It has potential to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development and support sustainable use of the land. Despite its valuable characteristics and widespread cultivation, fonio has generally received limited research and development attention, which is also why the species is sometimes referred to as an underutilized crop.
Echinochloa is a very widespread genus of plants in the grass family and tribe Paniceae. Some of the species are known by the common names barnyard grass or cockspur grass.
Setaria is a widespread genus of plants in the grass family. The name is derived from the Latin word seta, meaning "bristle" or "hair", which refers to the bristly spikelets.
Cenchrus biflorus is a species of annual grass in the family Poaceae. Common names include Indian sandbur, Bhurat or Bhurut in India, Haskaneet in Sudan, Aneeti in the Arabic dialect of Mauritania, K 'arangiya in the Hausa language of Nigeria, and Ngibbi in the Kanuri language of Nigeria. In the francophone countries of the Sahel, it is usually referred to as "cram-cram".
Digitaria sanguinalis is a species of grass known by several common names, including hairy crabgrass, hairy finger-grass, large crabgrass, crab finger grass, purple crabgrass. It is one of the better-known species of the genus Digitaria, and one that is known nearly worldwide as a common weed. It is used as animal fodder, and the seeds are edible and have been used as a grain in Germany and especially Poland, where it is sometimes cultivated. This has earned it the name Polish millet.
Paspalum scrobiculatum, commonly called kodo millet or koda millet, is an annual grain that is grown primarily in Nepal and also in India, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and in West Africa from where it originated. It is grown as a minor crop in most of these areas, with the exception of the Deccan plateau in India where it is grown as a major food source. It is a very hardy crop that is drought tolerant and can survive on marginal soils where other crops may not survive, and can supply 450–900 kg of grain per hectare. Kodo millet has large potential to provide nourishing food to subsistence farmers in Africa and elsewhere.
Urochloa, commonly known as signalgrass, is a genus of plants in the grass family, native to tropical and subtropical regions of Eurasia, Africa, Australia, the Americas, and various islands.
Urochloa brizantha is a species of grass known by the common name palisade grass. It is often used as a forage for livestock. Other common names include palisade signal grass, bread grass, Mauritius grass, Surinam grass, large-seeded millet grass, big ashama, Ceylon sheep grass, and St. Lucia grass.
Urochloa eminii, commonly known as Congo grass, is a species of forage crop in the family Poaceae that is grown throughout the humid tropics. With fast growth at the beginning of the wet season due to strong seedling vigour, ease of establishment, good seed production and yield and the ability to suppress weeds it has the ability to become developed into the most important forage crop planted in the tropics. With the aid of genomic tools to research the genotype and gain more information there is the ability to increase breeding programs which are currently rather limited.
Paniceae is a large tribe of the subfamily Panicoideae in the grasses (Poaceae), the only in the monotypic supertribe Panicodae. It includes roughly 1,500 species in 84 genera, primarily found in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Paniceae includes species using either of the C4 and C3 photosynthetic pathways, as well as presumably intermediate species. Most of the millets are members of tribe Paniceae.
Urochloa nigropedata, commonly known as spotted brachiaria, is a perennial grass belonging to the grass family (Poaceae). It is native to Southern Africa in the tropical regions of South Africa and East Africa. Urochloa nigropedata is used as fodder grass in Namibia.
Piptatherum holciforme is a species of perennial cereal grass known by the common names rice grass, hairy ricegrass, and hairy millet grass, endemic to Eurasia, especially the Mediterranean basin. The seed of the plant is a type of grain millet that can be ground into meal and prepared as a porridge.
Urochloa ramosa, the browntop millet or Dixie signalgrass, is an annual, millet grass belonging to the grass family (Poaceae). The native range of Urochloa ramosa is from Africa to tropical and subtropical Asia.
