Millet
| Millet | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Millet ( Setaria italica ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Setaria italica | ||||||||||||
| ( L. ) P.Beauv. |
The foxtail millet ( Setaria italica ), also foxtail called, is a type of millet , which is mainly grown in Asia.
description
Vegetative characteristics
The millet is an annual plant ( therophyte ) and reaches heights of 60 to 120 (rarely up to 150) centimeters. The upright stalks have a diameter of 4 to 8 (rarely up to 10) millimeters and are hairy below the inflorescence. The six to twelve nodes of the stalk are bald or the lowest are hairy. The stalk is leafy up to the top.
The leaf sheaths are densely hairy on the edge, often also on the back. The ligula has eyelashes that are around 2 millimeters long. The leaf blade is 10 to 50 inches long and one to three inches wide. It is rough on both sides, the top is scattered with short hair. The leaf margin has spiked hair.
Generative characteristics
The spike-like inflorescence is usually 10 to 25 (4 to 30) centimeters long and 2 to 3 centimeters wide without bristles. The inflorescence is more or less lobed, overhanging to maturity. When brushing upwards, it is rough due to bristle teeth. The inflorescence axis is densely covered with downy hairs up to 2 millimeters long. The one to three bristles below the spikelet are usually 8 to 10 (2 to 16) millimeters long. Morphologically , the bristles are deaf panicle branches. The spikelet is 3 to 3.5 millimeters long. At maturity only the top flower fails , the glumes and the lower, sterile flower remain on the axis. The lower glume is half as long as the spikelet. The upper lemma is as long as the spikelet, it is thickened. The anthers are 0.8 to 1.2 millimeters long. The flowering period extends from June to October. Both self- and cross-fertilization occur.
The fruits are 1.5 to 2 millimeters long and broadly elliptical in outline. They remain enclosed by the lemmas when they reach maturity. Depending on the variety, the color can be yellow, orange, red or black. The spread of diasporas done epizoochor ( Velcro spread ) or hemerochor (by humans).
Ingredients and chromosome number
The grains consist of 10% water, 11.3% protein, 4.3% fat, around 62% carbohydrates, 7% crude fiber and 3% ash.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 18.
distribution
Millet is only known in culture. She is probably from China. Their distribution coincides with the growing areas. In Central Europe it is widespread on the colline altitude level , but occurs only rarely and inconsistently, mostly just wild. It is grown in gardens or small fields as bird feed. It grows on nutrient-rich clay and sandy soils. It is mainly to be found on rubbish dumps, on railway areas and ports.
Synonyms
Millet is also known under the names foxtail millet, fennich, mohar, bird millet, German millet, Italian millet, Hungarian millet, navane and kangni .
Cultivation
Millet is one of the more important millets. The main cultivation areas are in (North) China , Central Asia, Afghanistan and India . It is also grown in Southeast Asia, Southeast Europe, South Africa, and Australia. In Europe and America it has a certain importance as forage grass .
Millet is not drought-resistant . The early varieties need 400 to 500 mm of precipitation, the late ones up to 700 mm. The demands on the floor are low.
In favorable locations, the yields can be up to five tons per hectare, normal yields are less than one tonne per hectare. Certain types are also suitable for baking bread due to their higher gluten content.
The infestation with the rust fungus Uromyces setariae-italicae is economically important .
Systematics
The millet is a cultivated plant derived from the green bristle millet ( Setaria viridis ). Synonyms for Setaria italica are Panicum italicum L. and Panicum glomeratum Moench .
There are a number of varieties of millet, which are grouped into two clans, which are classified as subspecies or convarieties:
- Great millet ( Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv. Subsp. Italica )
- Small millet or mohar ( Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv. Subsp. Moharia (Alef.) H. Scholz ) has short bristles. it is planted as bird food.
history
The main form of the millet is the green bristle millet. The place of domestication is not secured, but could have been in Afghanistan. Only here are there transitional forms between the two species that do not otherwise cross.
In northern China, the millet was together with the proso millet ( Panicum miliaceum v) from about 2500th Cultivated at that time as the only type of grain . Even after the introduction of wheat and barley, the two millets remained the basic food of the people.
In Europe, the millet is only known from finds in the Neolithic settlements on Lake Constance. In the Iron Age, millet was the most important type of millet in Portugal, Spain, Italy and the Rhineland. The Romans called millet "panicum" and used it to make a porridge with milk. Pliny the Elder names Gaul and the Po valley as the main cultivation areas.
In Central Europe, millet only played a subordinate role compared to millet. At the end of the 19th century it was only grown sporadically in southern Germany, Upper and Lower Austria and in Hungary.
Sources and further information
- Siegmund Seybold (Ed.): Schmeil-Fitschen interactive (CD-Rom), Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2001/2002, ISBN 3-494-01327-6 (main source)
- Udelgard Körber-Grohne: Useful Plants in Germany from Prehistory to Today . Theiss, Stuttgart 1995, pp. 330–339 (reprint ISBN 3-933203-40-6 ) (history)
- Walter Erhardt among others: The big pikeperch. Encyclopedia of Plant Names . Volume 2. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2008. ISBN 978-3-8001-5406-7
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Gunther Franke (ed.): Useful plants of the tropics and subtropics. Volume 2: Special crop production . Ulmer, Stuttgart 1994, pp. 106f., ISBN 3-8252-1768-X .
- ^ Wolfgang Franke: Nutzpflanzenkunde. Usable crops of temperate latitudes, subtropics and tropics. 4th edition, Thieme, Stuttgart 1989, p. 103, ISBN 3-13-530404-3 .
- ↑ Rafaël Govaerts (ed.): Setaria italica. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved November 21, 2016.
- ↑ Waldemar Ternes , Alfred Täufel, Lieselotte Tunger, Martin Zobel (eds.): Food Lexicon . 4th, comprehensively revised edition. Behr, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-89947-165-2 , pp. 974 .
- ^ Paul Holliday: Fungus Diseases of Tropical Crops. CUP Archives, 1980, 607 pages. Online .
