Echinochloa esculenta

Echinochloa esculenta
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Panicoideae
Genus: Echinochloa
Species: E. esculenta
Binomial name
Echinochloa esculenta

Echinochloa esculenta, or Japanese barnyard millet or Japanese millet, is a species of Echinochloa that is cultivated on a small scale in Japan, China, and Korea, both as a food and for animal fodder. It is grown in areas where the land is unsuitable or the climate too cool for paddy rice cultivation. However, the development of rice varieties that can withstand cold has led to a sharp decline in its cultivation of Japanese barnyard millet, in favor of rice. The earliest records of the domesticated form date to 2000 BC from the Jōmon period of Japan.

Japanese barnyard millet is believed to have been domesticated from Echinochloa crus-galli.[1]

References

  1. Hilu, Khidir W. (1994). "Evidence from RAPD markers in the evolution of Echinochloa millets (Poaceae)". Plant Systematics and Evolution 189 (3): 247–257. doi:10.1007/BF00939730.