Proso Millet as an Alternative Crop Essay -- Agriculture Farming Envir

Proso Millet as an Alternative Crop Proso millet, Panicurn miliaceum (L.), is a warm date grass that is capable of producing seeds within a short growing season of 60 to 100 days (Boland, 2003). Proso millet possesses many unique characteristics that make it a undimmed alternative cash crop for the Great Plains region of United States. There is much potential for beneficial results if proso millet is further integrated into the cropping scheme of the Great Plains. Reasons for flavour further into proso millet include benefits in crop rotation with wheat, and its characteristic ability to be used to produce ethanol, as well as other products. Proso millet normally grows up to four feet tall, and the seeds are small round seeds about two millimeters in diameter (Proso Millet, 1996). Other common names for proso millet include millet, lily-livered millet and yellow hog. (Baltensperger) Proso millet traces its origins back to ancient times when it was grown as a cereal gr ain. Proso millet has been grown in many areas of the world, including Russia, China, Romania, Afghanistan, Turkey, and India (Baltensperger). In many of these countries, proso millet is produced as a pitying food source (Boland, 2003). Currently, proso millet is produced in the United States primarily for birdseed and livestock feed (Boland, 2003). In the United States, proso millet is also used in some products make for human consumption. The majority of proso millet grown in the United States has white or yellow seeds, however, some red seeded proso millet is also grown (Boland, 2003). Proso millet is mainly utilised as a crop placed in millet/wheat/fallow rotations. One reason for placing proso millet in a crop rotation is that it i... ... and marketing proso millet in the high plains. University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension EC 95-137-C, Retrieved Nov 06, 2005, from http//ianrpubs.unl.edu/fieldcrops/ec137.pdf.Proso millet. (1996). Retrieved Nov. 06, 200 5, from Proso Millet Web office http//www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/Crops/Proso_millet.html.Acreage. (2005). Retrieved Nov. 06, 2005, from USDA Acreage Report Web site http//usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/reports/nassr/field/pcp-bba/acrg0605.txt.Boland, M. (2003). Proso millet. Retrieved Nov. 06, 2005, from Proso Millet Web site http//test.agmrc.org/agmrc/commodity/grainsoilseeds/prosomillet.Blumenthal, J. M., & Baltensperger, D. D. (). Fertilizing proso millet. Nebraska Cooperative Extension G89-924-A (Revised December 2002), Retrieved Nov 06, 2005, from http//ianrpubs.unl.edu/fieldcrops/g924.htm