name: Millet

flavor_db_name_variants: millet

source: foodb

status: draft

food_db_id: Millet

id: 126

name_scientific: Panicum miliaceum

description: The millets are a group of highly variable small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for both human food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Millets are important crops in the semi-arid tropics of Asia and Africa, with 97% of millet production in developing countries. The crop is favored due to its productivity and short growing season under dry, high temperature conditions. The most widely grown millet is pearl millet, which is an important crop in India and parts of Africa. Finger millet, proso millet, and foxtail millet are also important crop species. In the developed world, millets are less important. For example, in the United States the only significant crop is proso millet, which is mostly grown for bird seed. While millets are indigenous to many parts of the world, millets most likely had an evolutionary origin in tropical western Africa, as that is where the greatest number of both wild and cultivated forms exist. Millets have been important food staples in human history, particularly in Asia and Africa, and they have been in cultivation in East Asia for the last 10,000 years.

itis_id: 40946

wikipedia_id: Millet

picture_file_name: 126.jpg

picture_content_type: image/jpeg

picture_file_size: 89513

picture_updated_at: 2012-04-20T09:39:45.000Z

legacy_id: 133

food_group: Cereals and cereal products

food_subgroup: Cereals

food_type: Type 1

created_at: 2011-02-09T00:37:21.000Z

updated_at: 2019-05-14T18:04:16.000Z

creator_id: null

updater_id: null

export_to_afcdb: false

category: specific

ncbi_taxonomy_id: 4540

export_to_foodb: true

public_id: FOOD00126