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

Proso Millet as an Alternative Crop Proso millet, Panicurn miliaceum (L.), is a warm season 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 promising 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 looking 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 commonly 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, yellow millet and yellow hog. (Baltensperger) Proso millet traces its origins back to ancient times when it was grown as a cereal grain. 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 human 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 made 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 utilized 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, 2005, from Proso Millet Web site: 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