Introduction
Millets are small-seeded crops with different species such as pearlmillet (Pennisetumglaucum), finger millet (Eleusinecoracana),kodo millet (Paspalumsetaceum), proso millet (Penicummiliaceum),foxtail millet (Setaria italic), little millet (Panicumsumatrense), andbarnyard millet (Echinochloautilis). They are known as coarse cereals beside maize (Zea mays), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), oats (Avenasativa), and barley (Hordeumvulgare) (Bouis 2000; Kauret. al., 2012). Millets are grown in semiarid tropics of Asia and Africa. Millets are utilizes as foods and fuel. Among various millets species pearl millet is the most commonly grown in India and Africa. According to FAO in 2018, India is the leading producing country in the world followed by Niger and China. In India, Rajasthan is the leading millets producing state followed by Maharashtra and Gujarat (Adekunle et al., 2018). Millets are often the only cereal crop that can grow in dried and warm climate condition and require very less amount of water (350-400 mm annual rainfall). Some pearl millets varieties can survive up to 64°C temperature.
by MuzaffarHasan1, ChiragMaheshwari2, Nitin Kumar Garg3 and Mahesh Kumar4
1, 2 Scientists, APPD Division, ICAR-CIAE, Bhopal
3 Assistant professor, Rajasthan Agricultural Research Institute, Jaipur
4 Scientist, ICAR- CAZRI, Jodhpur.
