This document summarizes information about several species of small millets: finger millet, foxtail millet, proso millet, little millet, kodo millet, and barnyard millet. It describes their botanical features, including plant morphology, inflorescence structure, and other identifying characteristics. It notes that small millets are well-adapted crops that provide nutrition and promote food security. While recognizing their benefits, it also states that small millets remain underutilized and need more research attention to develop improved varieties and encourage wider cultivation.

1. Botany of Small Millets
T.Nivethitha, GPB

2. Small millets
• Small millets are considered as climate-smart and nutrient rich crops
• Globally grown in a limited acreage, and are used as food, feed and
fodder purposes

3.  Play an important role in food and nutritional security in rural households
 characterized by high micronutrient content, particularly rich in calcium
and iron, and high dietary fibre.
 agronomic advantages - including diverse, adaptation, less affected by
biotic and abiotic stresses, short-duration, high water use efficiency,
drought tolerance, etc.
 Small millets are under-utilized and under-researched crops,
 Their presence in the food basket has been declining over the years
 Currently there is an increasing recognition of small millets’ nutrient
composition and benefits as healthy food.

5. Finger millet- Highly tolerant to alkalinity, even >pH 11.0
• Domesticated about 5000 years B.C. in Eastern Africa (Ethiopia)
• Introduced into India about 3000 years ago
• Staple food in parts of Eastern and Central Africa and India
Also known as African millet.
In India, the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh
produce most of the ragi crop.
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu produce about 61% of the total crop.

6. DIFFERENT SPECIES.
Diploid species
• Eleusine indica
• Eleusine oligostachya
• E.tristachya
• E. poranansis
• E. jaegeri
• E. flacifolia
Tetraploid species.
1.Eleusine coracana
2. E. africana
3. E. Longipoides
4. E. verticillata
5. E. cagopoides

7. Cultivated types of ragi
• Indian ragi (2n = 4x = 36) E. Coracana (tetraploids)
– Short fingers, small grains, photo insensitive.
• African ragi ( 2n = 4x = 36) E. africana (tetraploids)
It has long fingers, bold grain, stiff straw, photosensitive and
uneven grain maturity phase.

8. Eleusine indica Eleusine coracana Eleusine africana

9. Botany
• Habit : Annual or Perennial, herbaceous.
• Height : about 1m.
• Root system: Adventitious.
• Stem : Compressed, elliptic.
• Culm : Compressed and culms are typically green in colour. Culm
nodes are glabrous. Culm internodes solid or hollow.
• Leaf sheath : Leaf sheaths are prominently flattened.
• Leaf blade : Leaf blades linear, narrow, flat or folded, without cross
veination

10. • Inflorescence : It consists of a group of
digitally arranged spikes in a terminal umbel
• Spikelet : strongly compressed laterally,
curved into two over lapping rows on the
outer sides of the spike.
• Each spikelet has 4-6 flowers, flowers per
ear head 1500 – 3000.

11. • Lemma : Pointed, awnless, hairless.
• Palea : Present,awnless.
• Lodicules : Present and two in number joined or free, fleshy.
• Glumes : Two, more or less equal.Lower glume 1 nerved.
• Stamen: Flower contains 3 stamens, short anthers and long filament.
• Pistil: Ovary glabrous. Styles free to their bases.
• Branched stigma with white or brown in colour.
• Fruit : The grains are globose.

13. Floral structure
• Terminal whorl bearing 2 to 10, but averaging 5 or 6 spikes arranged like a
birds foot at the top of the peduncle.
• The lowest spike is separated by 2 to 5 cm from the other spikes and
which arise from the same point at the end of the stem
• In each finger there are about 70 spikelet's, each spikelet having five to
seven complete flowers.
• In the spikelet the flowering proceeds from bottom to top and in a finger
the order of flowering is from the top spikelet downward.
• An ear head contains 1,500 to 3,000 flowers, and the flowering period
varies from six or seven to ten days

14. TOP INCURVED OPEN TYPE

15. • Anthesis commences from top spikelet and progress downwards. Each
spikelet contains 4 to 6 flowers, the opening of the florets starts from
bottom to top.
• One floret in the spikelet opens per day.
• Flowering takes place simultaneously in all fingers.
• Complete emergence of the inflorescence requires 7 -8 days.
• Depending upon the ear shape –Flower opening period will vary
– Compact : 2-3 a.m.
– Fisty : 3-5 a.m.
– Open : 1-2 a.m.
• Pollen viability is very short, 10 – 15 min.

16. • Anthers require about 45 minutes for dehiscence after emergence
• The stigma is receptive for about five minutes after emergence from
the glumes
• Self pollination is the general rule because the period of anthesis is
very short.
• Cross fertilization by wind and insects is less than 1 per cent.

17. Foxtail millet
• Domesticated in China and Europe, and grown
• Valued for its drought tolerance, short duration, and grains are
nutritionally superior to other cereals including rice and wheat.
• China ranks top
• In India, foxtail millet is cultivated mostly in the states such as
Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh

18. • Annual grass; seminal roots three followed by numerous thin
adventitious roots, culms erect, slender, internodes hollow,
• leaf sheath longer than internodes, ligulate; leaf blade linear; tip
acuminate; mid rib prominent.
• Inflorescence spike like panicle, carrying 6-12 two flowered sub sessile
spikelets each subtended by 1-3 bristles;
• stamens three
• ovary with two longstyles ending in plumose stigma;
• fruit caryopsis tightly enclosed by lemma & palea.

19. • Varieties in TN:CO 6 -90 d, CO5 – 95 d

21. Proso millet - Highly drought resistant
• Domesticated in China and Europe(Harlan 1975)
• Used for feeding birds and as livestock feed in the developed countries
and for food in some parts of Asia.
• Hog millet, Brown corn millet, Russian millet.
• Rainfed crop

22. • A shallow rooted erect annual grass, free tillering, internodes hollow,
cylindrical;
• leaflamina linear lanceolate.
• Inflorescence a slender panicle;
• spikelet with two florets with two glumes; lower floret sterile; upper
floret fertile with lemma, palea, two lodicules,
• three stamens and two styles with plumose stigmas;
• fruit a caryopsis enclosed by persistent lemma and palea

23. • Varieties: CO 3 – 75d, CO 4 – 70d & K2 75d

25. Little millet - Highly drought resistant & tolerant to water
logging
• Little millet was domesticated in India particularly in the Eastern Ghats
of India,
• An annual tufted grass with slender culms, soft leaves,
• inflorescence a panicle with erect hairy branches.
• Spikelets in pairs with 2 glumes
• Floret with 2 lemma, 2 lodicule, 3 stamens,
• Ovary with plumose stigma.
• Fruit - caryopsis

26. • Varieties in TN: CO3- 85d, CO2 – 85d,
• CO1 – 90d, PAIYUR 2 – 100d

27. Kodo millet - Highly drought resistant
• Minor crop throughout India.

28. • An annual tufted grass; leaves in two ranks, stiff, erect.
• Inflorescence a panicle; 2-8 spikelets in flattened rachis;
• Spikelets usually in two rows; each spikelet has two
• florets;
• Lower floret sterile, upper bisexual with lemma,
palea, two lodicules, three stamens andplumose stigma;
grain enclosed in hard horny persistent husk which is difficult
to remove.

29. • Cereal can be sown after continuous drought
• Seed viability longer
Should be used only fully matured grain
• Mostly in S. India
• Var: CO3 – 120 d, APK-1 100 d

30. Barnyard millet - Highly drought resistant & tolerant to water
logging
• E. crusgalli domesticated in Japan 4000 years ago
• E. colona domesticated in India
• fastest growing of all millets
• Produces a crop in six weeks

31. • A robust tufted annual grass; seminal roots followed by adventitious
roots; stem smooth, glabrous, producing tillers;
• internodes hollow; leaf blade linear, lanceolate; tip acute; margin
finely toothed.
• Inflorescence a panicle;
• spikelet two flowered, awnless, pedicellate, subtended by
bristles, two glumes; lower floret sterile with lemma and palea; upper
floret hermaphrodite, five nerved lemma and five nerved palea, two
lodicules,
• three stamens, two distinct style with plumose stigma.
• Fruit a caryopsis enclosed in white shining hardened lemma and
palea.

32. • Varieties: CO 1 – 110d, K1 85d, K2 – 90d

33. Conclusions
• There is an increasing recognition of small millets’ nutrient composition and
benefits as healthy food
• Alternate/supplement crop to widen food basket to ensure food, feed and
nutritional security
• More research efforts on
– Germplasm collecting, conserving, evaluating and utilizing, and
– Developing high yielding cultivars, processing and utilization technologies,
– Policy innervations
• To promote small millets cultivation, and for food and nutritional
security of vulnerable population under climate change scenario.

34. Reference
• Botany of tropical plants- Dr. V.Krishnan & Dr.N.Senthil.
• SMALL MILLETS IN GLOBAL AGRICULTURE
• Floral Biology and Pollination System in Small Millets- 2012.