Millet is Crops

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The tradition of making millet porridge has its roots in the deep past. Millet is the oldest cereal that came to Russia from China or Mongolia. The polished grain of the plant is millet.

Main processing areas

To date, up to 500 species of millet are known. Cultivation of crops is traditionally carried out by residents of areas with arid and semi-arid climates. Asian countries (China, Mongolia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka) account for more than 55% of world millet production. For African countries (Nigeria, Ethiopia, Mali, Tanzania, Uganda, Senegal) - up to 25%. In the post-Soviet space, millet is mainly cultivated in the steppe regions of Ukraine and Kazakhstan as a food grain, and in the Republic of Belarus - as a feed grain.

Millet in Russia

On the territory of the Russian Federation there are 8 species of plants, and only 2 of them are cultivated: common millet - Panicum muliaceum L. (grain) and capitate - Setaria italica L (green mass for livestock feed).

Depending on the collection of inflorescences, common millet has 5 subspecies: oval and lumpy (cultivated as heat-loving and drought-resistant), sprawling and spreading (lessheat-loving, can grow even in the conditions of the Non-Black Earth Region) and compressed (drooping).

Setaria (Italian, upland millet) is cultivated in the Far East. It has 2 subspecies - chumizu and mogar.

The main crops of common millet are concentrated in Western Siberia, Bashkiria, in the Central Black Earth Region, on the fertile lands of the North Caucasus. The area sown with early-maturing varieties of millet is constantly increasing in the Non-Black Earth Region and Eastern Siberia.

Biological features

Millet is an annual, self-pollinating, photophilous plant. Vegetation is short - from two to four months. When planted in wide rows, it gives from seven hollow stems, usually bushiness is 2-3 stems.

Major crops (rye, wheat, barley, oats) have narrower stem leaves than millet. Inflorescences - panicles of different types: from spreading to lumpy.

Roots can penetrate to a depth of one and a half meters, but the main feeding mass is located in a layer up to 40 centimeters.

Growth after germination is slow (2-3 weeks), for this reason the plant does not resist fast-growing weeds. Millet is a plant demanding on the supply of moisture in the upper soil layer: the more moisture, the faster the nodal roots develop. Under unfavorable conditions lodging of crops with blowing and breakage of roots can occur. The intensity of tillering depends on the moisture reserve, the availability of nutrients, favorable sowing dates (from May 15), the required seeding depth (5 cm), and the minimum number of weeds.

Agrotechnology

Millet serves as a good safety plant when other crops (both winter and spring) fail to sprout or die. This is due to the late planting dates - from mid-May to June. Seeds begin to germinate together only at sufficiently high temperatures - from 14 degrees, the best temperature is considered to be from 18 degrees.

Millet is a plant demanding on soil structure: the highest yield was noted on structural chernozems and chestnut soils (up to 50 centners per hectare). Cultivated lands with a neutral and slightly alkaline reaction, with a sufficient supply of moisture, can produce consistently high yields.

Due to the fact that weed infestation leads to a decrease in yield, it is necessary to carefully prepare the soil for sowing: snow retention, early harrowing (when the first weeds have already germinated), up to three subsequent cultivations with high infestation.

To obtain stable crops in spring, fertilization is required - calcium, phosphorus, nitrogen. This is not necessary if the predecessors of millet were potatoes or beets: soil fertility remains high. Millet gives good yields after winter crops. In monoculture, it dies due to fungal diseases.

The main pests of the plant are thrips, grain midge, cicadas, stem borer.

The yield of millet in Russia leaves much to be desired: from 8 to 12 centners per hectare, although in Soviet times in Kazakhstan, Chaganak Bersiev, known throughout the country, in 1941 received a crop of almost 156 centners per hectare,and in 1943 - 201.

Food Value

The weight of millet for nutrition has stood the test of time: millet in Russia ranks second after buckwheat.

Processed grain is used for groats. Millet, freed only from a rough flower shell, is called a dranet. After grinding, millet is obtained. Crusher is a by-product of grinding. And newfangled flakes are the result of thermal and mechanical processing of millet itself.

The popularity of millet is due to its nutritional value (up to 13% protein, almost 81% starch, up to 3.8% fat), balanced taste (trace elements and mineral s alts), medicinal properties (the content of B vitamins is higher than that of other grains), ease of digestibility and high digestibility.

Influence of grain color on the quality of cereals

According to the color intensity, millet grains are divided into three types: the first type - with white and cream color, the second - red millet (all shades of this range up to dark brown), the third - with yellow color. The varieties of millet cultivated in the Russian Federation Orlovsky dwarf and Vsepodolyanskoe-59 are assigned to the first type; Standard, Gorlinka, Barnaulskoye-80, Orenburgskoye-9, Saratovskoye-6, Saratovskoye-3, Omskoye-10, Lipetskoye - to the second, and Kinelskoye-92, Belgorodskoye-1, Kharkovskoye-8 and Kharkovskoye-57 - to the third.

The color of the grain depends on the presence or absence of anthocyanins (coloring substances). The kernel (millet) has a brighter color (thick yellow), subject to the intense color of the grain,respectively, both consumer qualities and price are higher.

Feed value

Millet is an indispensable part of the feed ration in livestock and poultry farming.

Unpolished millet grain is used as bird feed: chickens increase egg production, increase shell strength, and for chickens, millet porridge and grain are the necessary nutrition. Millet flour mixed with food additives is used to feed geese and pigs. Waste from millet production is used for compound feed and concentrated animal feed.

Millet straw is much more valuable as roughage than straw from other grains, because after harvesting it remains green and with a lot of leaves.

Fresh millet (green) is an excellent feed for cattle and sheep, so it is often sown on pastures.

All grain bird feed is formulated with millet. Recently, there has been a practice of forcing millet on greens in limited quantities (containers, roll mats) for both ornamental and domestic birds.

Formation of millet prices in Russia

Due to the high capital intensity of storage, due to both biological characteristics (the grain is very small, ventilation or cooling is required) and dependence on weather conditions, feed millet is more often offered for sale. The price of the supplied grain depends on the quality: the closer it is to the requirements of the standard, the higher it is. The existing supply requirements for processing into cereals are sufficientrigid and not all agricultural firms (even large ones) can provide them. Millet is practically not supplied for export by domestic agricultural producers. The main imports come from Turkey and Mongolia, countries that produce high-quality millet.