1.
Pearl millet
–
Pearl millet is the most widely grown type of millet. It has been grown in Africa and the Indian subcontinent since prehistoric times, the center of diversity, and suggested area of domestication, for the crop is in the Sahel zone of West Africa. Recent archaeobotanical research has confirmed the presence of domesticated pearl millet on the Sahel zone of northern Mali between 2500 and 2000 BC, cultivation subsequently spread and moved overseas to India. The earliest archaeological records in India date to around 2000 BC, cultivation also spread throughout eastern and southern parts of Africa. Pearl millet is grown in the northeastern part of Nigeria. It is a source of food to the local villagers of that region. The crop grows easily in that due to its ability to withstand harsh weather conditions like drought. Records exist for cultivation of millet in the United States in the 1850s. With ovoid grains of 3 –4 mm length pearl millet has the largest kernels of all varieties of millet which can be white, pale yellow, brown, grey. The 1000-seed weight can be anything from 2.5 to 14 g with a mean of 8 g, the height of the plant ranges from 0.5 –4 m. Pearl millet is well adapted to growing areas characterized by drought, low soil fertility and it performs well in soils with high salinity or low pH. Because of its tolerance to difficult growing conditions, it can be grown in areas where other crops, such as maize or wheat. Pearl millet is an annual crop well-suited for double cropping. Today pearl millet is grown on over 260,000 km2 of land worldwide and it accounts for approximately 50% of the total world production of millets. In Pakistan, باجرا, ٻاجھري Sindhi, In USA, cattail millet India is the largest producer of pearl millet, rajasthan is the highest-producing state in India. The second largest producer of millet and the first to start cultivation. Pearl millet is an important food across the Sahel region of Africa and it is a main staple in a large region of northern Nigeria, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. It is often ground into a flour, rolled into balls, parboiled, liquefied into a watery paste using fermented milk
Pearl millet
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Pearl millet second name Bajra /Bajri
Pearl millet
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Pennisetum glaucum
MHNT
Pearl millet
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A scientist in
Zimbabwe checks a pearl millet crop
Pearl millet
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Mahangu pounding
2.
Eleusine coracana
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Eleusine coracana, or finger millet, is an annual herbaceous plant widely grown as a cereal crop in the arid and semiarid areas in Africa and Asia. It is a tetraploid and self-pollinating species probably evolved from its wild relative Eleusine africana, Finger millet is native to the Ethiopian and Ugandan highlands. Finger millet originated in East Africa and came to India around 2000 BCE and it has been found in an Indian archaeological site dated to 1800 BCE. Main cultivation areas are Eastern and Southern African countries and Southern Asia, Finger millet is a short-day plant with a growing optimum at 12 h daylenght for most varieties. Its main growing area ranges from 20° N to 20° S, nevertheless, finger millet is found to be grown at 30° N in the Himalaya region. It is generally considered as a drought tolerant crop, but compared with other millets, such as pearl millet and sorghum it preferes moderate rainfall. The majority of worldwide finger millet farmers grow it rainfed, although yields often can be improved when irrigation is applied. In India, finger millet is a typical rabi crop, heat tolerance of finger millet is high. For Ugandan finger millet varieties for instance, the average growth temperature ranges at about 27 °C. Relatively to other millet species finger millet has a tolerance to cool temperatures. It is grown from about 500 meters above sea level up to about 2400 meters above sea level, by that, it can be cultivated on higher elevations than most tropical crops. Finger millet can grow on soils, including highly weathered tropical lateritic soils. Furthermore, it can tolerate soil salinity up to a certain extent and its ability to bear waterlogging is limited, therefore good drainage of the soils and moderate water holding capacity are optimal. Finger millet can tolerate moderately acidic soils but also moderately alkaline soils, Finger millet monocrops grown under rainfed conditions are most common in drier areas of Eastern Africa. In addition, intercropping with legumes, such as cowpea or pigeon pea, are quite common in East Africa. Tropical Central Africa supports scattered regions of finger millet intercropping mostly with legumes and its seeds are very small, which leads to a relatively slow development in early growing stages. This makes finger millet a weak competitor for light, water, in East and Southern Africa, the closely related species Eleusine indica is a severe weed competitor of finger millet. Especially in early growing stages of the crop and the weed and when broadcast seeding instead of row seeding is applied, besides Eleusine indica, the species Xanthium strumarium, which is animal disperesed and the stolon-owning species Cyperus rotondus and Cynodon dactylon are important finger millet weeds
Eleusine coracana
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Finger millet
Eleusine coracana
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Harvested finger millet in Uganda
Eleusine coracana
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Growing finger millet in Africa has been encouraged by some international development programs.
Eleusine coracana
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A grocery shop selling ragi in
Tamil Nadu
3.
Proso millet
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It is still extensively cultivated in India, Nepal, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Middle East, Turkey and Romania. In the United States, proso is mainly grown for birdseed and it is sold as health food, and due to its lack of gluten, it can be included in the diets of people who cannot tolerate wheat. The name comes from the general and generic name for millet. Proso is well adapted to many soil and climatic conditions, it has a growing season. The water requirement of proso is probably the lowest of any major cereal and it is an excellent crop for dryland and no-till farming. Proso millet is an annual grass whose plants reach an height of 100 cm. Like corn, it has a C4 photosynthesis, the seeds are small and can be cream, yellow, orange-red, or brown in colour. Proso is an annual grass like all other millets, but it is not closely related to pearl millet, foxtail millet, finger millet, unlike the foxtail millet, the wild ancestor of the proso millet has not yet been satisfactorily identified. This millet has been found in Neolithic sites in Georgia, in Germany by Linear Pottery culture. Proso millet is a relatively low-demanding crop and diseases are not known, consequently, in the United States it is often used as an intercrop. Thus, proso millet can help to avoid a summer fallow and its superficial root system and its resistance to atrazine residue make proso millet a good intercrop between two water- and pesticide-demanding crops. The stubbles of the last crop, by allowing more heat into the soil, while millet occupies the ground, because of its superficial root system, the soil can replenish its water content for the next crop. Later crops, for example, a wheat, can in turn benefit from the millet stubble. Due to its C4 photosynthetic system, proso millet is thermophilic like maize, therefore, shady locations of the field should be avoided. It is sensitive to temperatures lower than 10 to 13 degrees Celsius. Proso millet is highly drought-resistant, which makes it of interest to regions with low water availability, the soil should be light or medium-heavy. Due to its root systems, soil compaction must be avoided. Furthermore, proso millet does not tolerate soil wetness caused by dammed-up water, the seedbed should be finely crumbled as for sugar beet and rapeseed
Proso millet
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Proso millet
4.
Grasses
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Poaceae or Gramineae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants known as grasses. Poaceae includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and cultivated lawns, Grasses have stems that are hollow except at the nodes and narrow alternate leaves borne in two ranks. The lower part of each leaf encloses the stem, forming a leaf-sheath, with ca 780 genera and around 12,000 species, Poaceae are the fifth-largest plant family, following the Asteraceae, Orchidaceae, Fabaceae and Rubiaceae. Grasslands such as savannah and prairie grasses are dominant are estimated to constitute 40. 5% of the land area of the Earth, excluding Greenland. Grasses are also an important part of the vegetation in many habitats, including wetlands, forests. Though commonly called grasses, seagrasses, rushes, and sedges fall outside this family, the rushes and sedges are related to the Poaceae, being members of the order Poales, but the seagrasses are members of order Alismatales. The name Poaceae was given by John Hendley Barnhart in 1895, based on the tribe Poeae described in 1814 by Robert Brown, the term is derived from the Ancient Greek πόα. Grasses include some of the most versatile plant life-forms, a cladogram shows subfamilies and approximate species numbers in brackets, Before 2005, fossil findings indicated that grasses evolved around 55 million years ago. Recent findings of grass-like phytoliths in Cretaceous dinosaur coprolites have pushed this back to 66 million years ago. In 2011, revised dating of the origins of the rice tribe Oryzeae suggested a date as early as 107 to 129 Mya, a multituberculate mammal with grass-eating adaptations seems to suggest that grasses were already around at 120 mya. This separation occurred within the short time span of about 4 million years. Grass leaves are always alternate and distichous, and have parallel veins. Each leaf is differentiated into a lower sheath hugging the stem, the leaf blades of many grasses are hardened with silica phytoliths, which discourage grazing animals, some, such as sword grass, are sharp enough to cut human skin. A membranous appendage or fringe of hairs called the ligule lies at the junction between sheath and blade, preventing water or insects from penetrating into the sheath, flowers of Poaceae are characteristically arranged in spikelets, each having one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes, the part of the spikelet that bears the florets is called the rachilla. A spikelet consists of two bracts at the base, called glumes, followed by one or more florets, a floret consists of the flower surrounded by two bracts, one external—the lemma—and one internal—the palea. The flowers are usually hermaphroditic—maize being an important exception—and anemophilous or wind-pollinated, the perianth is reduced to two scales, called lodicules, that expand and contract to spread the lemma and palea, these are generally interpreted to be modified sepals. This complex structure can be seen in the image on the right, the fruit of grasses is a caryopsis, in which the seed coat is fused to the fruit wall
Grasses
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Grass
Grasses
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Zoysia grass flower
Grasses
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A
kangaroo eating grass
Grasses
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Wind-blown grass in the
Valles Caldera in
New Mexico
5.
Cereal
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A cereal is any grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain, composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran. Cereal grains are grown in quantities and provide more food energy worldwide than any other type of crop and are therefore staple crops. Edible grains from plant families, such as buckwheat, quinoa. In their natural form, cereals are a source of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fats, oils. When refined by the removal of the bran and germ, the endosperm is mostly carbohydrate. In some developing nations, grain in the form of rice, wheat, millet, in developed nations, cereal consumption is moderate and varied but still substantial. The word cereal is derived from Ceres, the Roman goddess of harvest, agriculture allowed for the support of an increased population, leading to larger societies and eventually the development of cities. It also created the need for organization of political power, as decisions had to be made regarding labor and harvest allocation and access rights to water. Agriculture bred immobility, as populations settled down for long periods of time, early Neolithic villages show evidence of the development of processing grain. The Levant is the ancient home of the ancestors of wheat, barley and peas, there is evidence of the cultivation of figs in the Jordan Valley as long as 11,300 years ago, and cereal production in Syria approximately 9,000 years ago. During the same period, farmers in China began to farm rice and millet, using man-made floods, fiber crops were domesticated as early as food crops, with China domesticating hemp, cotton being developed independently in Africa and South America, and Western Asia domesticating flax. The first cereal grains were domesticated by early primitive humans, about 8,000 years ago, they were domesticated by ancient farming communities in the Fertile Crescent region. Emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, and barley were three of the so-called Neolithic founder crops in the development of agriculture, around the same time, millets and rices were starting to become domesticated in East Asia. Sorghum and millets were also being domesticated in sub-Saharan West Africa, while each individual species has its own peculiarities, the cultivation of all cereal crops is similar. Most are annual plants, consequently one planting yields one harvest, wheat, rye, triticale, oats, barley, and spelt are the cool-season cereals. These are hardy plants grow well in moderate weather and cease to grow in hot weather. The warm-season cereals are tender and prefer hot weather, barley and rye are the hardiest cereals, able to overwinter in the subarctic and Siberia. Many cool-season cereals are grown in the tropics, however, some are only grown in cooler highlands, where it may be possible to grow multiple crops per year
Cereal
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Cereal
Cereal
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A wheat field in
Dorset, England
Cereal
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Cereal
grain seeds from left to right:
wheat,
spelt,
barley,
oat.
Cereal
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Threshing; Tacuinum Sanitatis, 14th century
6.
Crops
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A crop is any cultivated plant, fungus, or alga that is harvested for food, clothing, livestock, fodder, biofuel, medicine, or other uses. In contrast, animals that are raised by humans are called livestock, microbes, such as bacteria or viruses, are referred to as cultures. Microbes are not typically grown for food, but are used to alter food. For example, bacteria are used to ferment milk to produce yogurt, major crops include sugarcane, pumpkin, maize, wheat, rice, cassava, soybeans, hay, potatoes, and cotton. Sleper, David A. Poehlman, John M. Breeding Field Crops
Crops
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Domesticated plants
Crops
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Crops drying in a home in
Punjab,
India.
Crops
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Gardening
7.
Fodder
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Fodder, a type of animal feed, is any agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, goats, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. Fodder refers particularly to food given to the animals, rather than that which they forage for themselves, Fodder is also called provender and includes hay, straw, silage, compressed and pelleted feeds, oils and mixed rations, and sprouted grains and legumes. Most animal feed is from plants, but some manufacturers add ingredients to processed feeds that are of animal origin, in many cases the production of grass for cattle fodder is a valuable intercrop between crops for human consumption, because it builds the organic matter in the soil. Some agricultural byproducts fed to animals may be considered unsavory by human consumers, alfalfa Barley Birdsfoot trefoil Brassica spp. This practice is now banned in most countries where it has occurred, the US Dept. of Health and Human Services regulates drugs of the Veterinary Feed Directive type that can be present within commercial livestock feed. Fodder in the form of sprouted grains and legumes can be grown in small, systems have been developed recently that allow for many tons of sprouts to be produced each day, year round. Sprouted grains can increase the nutritional value of the grain compared with feeding the ungerminated grain to stock. In addition, they use less water than traditional forage, making them ideal for drought conditions, sprouted barley and other cereal grains can be grown hydroponically in a carefully controlled environment. Under hydroponic conditions, sprouted fodder at 150 mm tall with a 50 mm root mat is at its peak for animal feed, although products such are barley are grain, when sprouted they are approved by the American Grassfed Association to be used as livestock feed. Cannon fodder Factory farming Feed manufacturing Forage Grain Pasture Karl Heinrich Ritthausen Die Eiweisskörper der Getreidearten, beiträge zur Physiologie der Samen der Kulturgewachese, der Nahrungs- und Futtermitel, Bonn,1872 from Google books. Compar Fresh or Ensiled Fodders on the Production of Greenhouse Gases Following Enteric Fermentation in Beef Cattle, université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue,2011. UK Food Standards Agency, Animal feed legislation and guidance FAO Feed Safety guidelines Fodder Plants at Agriculture Guide An article from Agriculture Guide
Fodder
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A fodder factory set up by an individual farmer to produce customised cattle feed
Fodder
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Round
hay bales
Fodder
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Newton of Cawdor stack of bales, sweet-smelling fodder stored for winter
Fodder
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Cut green fodder being transported to cattle in
Tanzania
8.
Semi-arid climate
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A semi-arid climate or steppe climate is the climate of a region that receives precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not extremely. There are different kinds of climates, depending on such variables as temperature. Semi-arid climates tend to short or scrubby vegetation, with semi-arid areas usually dominated by either grasses or shrubs. To determine if a location has a climate, the precipitation threshold must first be determined. If the areas precipitation is less than the threshold but more than half the threshold. Hot semi-arid climates tend to be located in the tropics and subtropics and these climates tend to have hot, sometimes extremely hot, summers and warm to cool winters, with some to minimal precipitation. Hot semi-arid climates are most commonly found around the fringes of subtropical deserts, hot semi-arid climates are most commonly found in Africa, Australia and South Asia. In Australia, a portion of the Outback surrounding the central desert regions lies within the hot semi-arid climate regime. Hot semi-arid climates can also be found in North America, primarily in Mexico, areas of Texas near Mexico, cold semi-arid climates tend to be located in temperate zones or elevated portions in subtropical zones. They are typically found in continental interiors some distance from bodies of water. Cold semi-arid climates usually feature warm and dry summers, though their summers are not quite as hot as those of hot semi-arid climates. Unlike hot semi-arid climates, areas with cold semi-arid climates tend to have cold winters and these areas usually see some snowfall during the winter, though snowfall is much lower than at locations at similar latitudes with more humid climates. These large diurnal temperature variations are seen in hot semi-arid climates. Cold semi-arid climates are most commonly found in Asia and North America, however, they can also be found in Northern Africa, South Africa, Europe, sections of South America and sections of interior southern Australia and New Zealand. As a result of this, some areas can have climates that are classified as hot or cold depending on the isotherm used. One such location is San Diego, California, which has cool summers for the due to prevailing winds off the ocean. Arid Forest Research Institute Continental climate Dust Bowl Goyders Line Pallisers Triangle Köppen climate classification Wave height Ustic
Semi-arid climate
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The semi-arid terrain of
Machakos
Semi-arid climate
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BSh
Semi-arid climate
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Northeast Caatinga - semiárido brasileño
Semi-arid climate
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Extreme weather at
Atacama Large Millimeter Array.
9.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
India
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Flag
India
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The granite
tower of
Brihadeeswarar Temple in
Thanjavur was completed in 1010 CE by
Raja Raja Chola I.
India
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Writing the will and testament of the Mughal king court in Persian, 1590–1595
10.
Mali
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Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali is the eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of just over 1,240,000 square kilometres, the population of Mali is 14.5 million. The countrys economy centers on agriculture and fishing, some of Malis prominent natural resources include gold, being the third largest producer of gold in the African continent, and salt. About half the population lives below the poverty line of $1.25 a day. A majority of the population are Muslims, present-day Mali was once part of three West African empires that controlled trans-Saharan trade, the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire, and the Songhai Empire. During its golden age, there was a flourishing of mathematics, astronomy, literature, at its peak in 1300, the Mali Empire covered an area about twice the size of modern-day France and stretched to the west coast of Africa. In the late 19th century, during the Scramble for Africa, France seized control of Mali, French Sudan joined with Senegal in 1959, achieving independence in 1960 as the Mali Federation. Shortly thereafter, following Senegals withdrawal from the federation, the Sudanese Republic declared itself the independent Republic of Mali. After a long period of one-party rule, a coup in 1991 led to the writing of a new constitution and the establishment of Mali as a democratic, multi-party state. In January 2012, a conflict broke out in northern Mali, in which Tuareg rebels took control of by April and declared the secession of a new state. The conflict was complicated by a coup that took place in March. In response to Islamist territorial gains, the French military launched Opération Serval in January 2013, a month later, Malian and French forces recaptured most of the north. Presidential elections were held on 28 July 2013, with a second round held on 11 August. The name Mali is taken from the name of the Mali Empire, the name was originally derived from the Mandinka or Bambara word mali, meaning “hippopotamus”, but it eventually came to mean the place where the king lives. The word carries the connotation of strength, D. Niane suggests in Sundiata, An Epic of Old Mali that it is not impossible that Mali was the name given to one of the capitals of the emperors. 14th century Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta reported that the capital of the Mali Empire was indeed called Mali and this name could have formerly been that of a city. In old Mali there is one village called Malikoma which means “New Mali. ”Another theory suggests that Mali is a Fulani pronunciation of the name of the Mande peoples. It is suggested that a sound shift led to the change, whereby in Fulani the alveolar segment /nd/ shifts to /l/, Mali was once part of three famed West African empires which controlled trans-Saharan trade in gold, salt, slaves, and other precious commodities
Mali
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The pages above are from
Timbuktu Manuscripts written in Sudani script (a form of
Arabic) from the
Mali Empire showing established knowledge of astronomy and mathematics. Today there are close to a million of these manuscripts found in
Timbuktu alone.
Mali
Mali
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Griots of
Sambala, king of Médina (
Fula people, Mali), 1890.
Mali
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Cotton being processed in
Niono into 180 kg (400 lb) bales for export to other parts of Africa and to France, c. 1950.
11.
Niger
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Niger, officially the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. Niger is bordered by Libya to the northeast, Chad to the east, Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, and Algeria to the northwest. Niger covers a area of almost 1,270,000 km2, making it the largest country in West Africa. The countrys predominantly Islamic population of about 19 million is mostly clustered in the far south, the capital city is Niamey, located in the far-southwest corner of Niger. Niger is a country, and is consistently one of the lowest-ranked in the United Nations Human Development Index. Much of the portions of the country are threatened by periodic drought. The economy is concentrated around subsistence and some export agriculture clustered in the fertile south. Nigerien society reflects a diversity drawn from the long independent histories of its ethnic groups and regions. Historically, what is now Niger has been on the fringes of large states. Since independence, Nigeriens have lived under five constitutions and three periods of military rule, following a military coup in 2010, Niger has become a democratic, multi-party state. A majority live in areas, and have little access to advanced education. Early human settlement in Niger is evidenced by archaeological remains. In prehistoric times, the climate of the Sahara was wet and provided favorable conditions for agriculture, in 2005–06, a graveyard in the Tenere desert was discovered by Paul Sereno, a paleontologist from the University of Chicago. His team discovered 5, 000-year-old remains of a woman and two children in the Tenere Desert, the evidence along with remains of animals that do not typically live in desert are among the strongest evidence of the green Sahara in Niger. It is believed that progressive desertification around 5000 BCE pushed sedentary populations to the south and south-east. By at least the 5th century BCE, Niger became an area of trade, led by the Berber tribes from the north. This trade has made Agadez a pivotal place of the trans-Saharan trade and this mobility, which would continue in waves for several centuries, was accompanied with further migration to the south and interbreeding between southern black and northern white populations. It was also aided by the introduction of Islam to the region at the end of the 7th century, several empires and kingdoms also flourished during this era up to the beginning of colonization in Africa
Niger
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Ancient rock engraving showing herds of giraffe, ibex, and other animals in the southern Sahara near Tiguidit, Niger.
Niger
–
Flag
Niger
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Overlooking the town of
Zinder and the Sultan's Palace from the French fort (1906). The arrival of the French spelled a sudden end for precolonial states like the
Sultanate of Damagaram, which carried on only as ceremonial "chiefs" appointed by the colonial government.
Niger
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The
Kaouar escarpment, forming an oasis in the
Ténéré desert.
12.
Developing country
–
Also, the general term less-developed country should not be confused with the specific least developed country. The term developing describes a currently observed situation and not a dynamic or expected direction of progress, since the late 1990s developing countries tended to demonstrate higher growth rates than the developed ones. There is criticism of the use of the developing country. The term implies inferiority of a country or undeveloped country compared with a developed country. It assumes a desire to develop along the traditional Western model of development which a few countries, such as Cuba and Bhutan. An alternative measurement that has suggested is that of gross national happiness. Countries on the boundary between developed and developing are often categorized under the newly industrialized countries. In the 2016 edition of its World Development Indicators, the World Bank made a decision to no longer distinguish between “developed” and “developing” countries in the presentation of its data, nobody has ever agreed on a definition for these terms in the first place. Various terms are used for whatever is not a developed country, terms used include less developed country or less economically developed country, and for the more extreme, least developed country or least economically developed country. But according to the United Nations Statistics Division, There is no established convention for the designation of developed, the World Bank classifies countries into four income groups. These are set each year on July 1, economies were divided according to 2016 GNI per capita using the following ranges of income, Low income countries had GNI per capita of US$1,025 or less. Lower middle income countries had GNI per capita between US$1,026 and US$4,035, upper middle income countries had GNI per capita between US$4,036 and US$12,475. High income countries had GNI per capita above US$12,476 and this may be by absolute numbers or country ranking. The UN has developed the Human Development Index, an indicator of the above statistics. The UN sets Millennium Development Goals from a blueprint developed by all of the countries and leading development institutions. There is an association between low income and high population growth. The terms utilized when discussing developing countries refer to the intent, other terms sometimes used are less developed countries, least economically developed countries, underdeveloped nations or Third World nations, and non-industrialized nations. Conversely, developed countries, most economically developed countries, First World nations and that is, LEDCs are the poorest subset of LDCs
Developing country
–
developing economies according to the IMF
13.
Agricultural productivity
–
Agricultural productivity is measured as the ratio of agricultural outputs to agricultural inputs. While individual products are measured by weight, their varying densities make measuring overall agricultural output difficult. Therefore, output is measured as the market value of final output. This output value may be compared to different types of inputs such as labour. These are called partial measures of productivity, agricultural productivity may also be measured by what is termed total factor productivity. This method of calculating agricultural productivity compares an index of agricultural inputs to an index of outputs, changes in TFP are usually attributed to technological improvements.4.1, Mechanization, Agriculture, Section 2.6, Scientific agriculture. The productivity of a regions farms is important for many reasons, an increase in a regions agricultural productivity implies a more efficient distribution of scarce resources. As farms become more productive, the wages earned by those who work in agriculture increase, at the same time, food prices decrease and food supplies become more stable. Labourers therefore have more money to spend on food as well as other products and this also leads to agricultural growth. People see that there is an opportunity to earn their living by farming and are attracted to agriculture either as owners of farms themselves or as labourers. However, it is not only the people employed in agriculture who benefit from increases in agricultural productivity and those employed in other sectors also enjoy lower food prices and a more stable food supply. Agricultural productivity is becoming important as the world population continues to grow. India, one of the worlds most populous countries, has taken steps in the past decades to increase its land productivity. Forty years ago, North India produced only wheat, but with the advent of the earlier maturing high-yielding wheats and rices and this wheat/rice combination is now widely used throughout the Punjab, Haryana, and parts of Uttar Pradesh. The wheat yield of three tons and rice yield of two tons combine for five tons of grain per hectare, helping to feed Indias 1.1 billion people, increase in agricultural productivity is often linked with questions about sustainability and sustainable development. Changes in agricultural practices necessarily bring changes in demands on resources, between 1950 and 2000, during the so-called second agricultural revolution of modern times, U. S. agricultural productivity rose fast, especially due to the development of new technologies. For many farmers agricultural productivity may mean much more, a productive farm is one that provides most of the resources necessary for the farmers family to live, such as food, fuel, fiber, healing plants, etc. It is a farm which ensures food security as well as a way to sustain the well-being of a community and this implies that a productive farm is also one which is able to ensure proper management of natural resources, such as biodiversity, soil, water, etc
Agricultural productivity
–
Grain production facilities
Agricultural productivity
–
Food production per capita (1961–2005)
Agricultural productivity
–
A
cooperative dairy factory in
Victoria.
Agricultural productivity
–
A liquid
manure spreader.
14.
Finger millet
–
Eleusine coracana, or finger millet, is an annual herbaceous plant widely grown as a cereal crop in the arid and semiarid areas in Africa and Asia. It is a tetraploid and self-pollinating species probably evolved from its wild relative Eleusine africana, Finger millet is native to the Ethiopian and Ugandan highlands. Finger millet originated in East Africa and came to India around 2000 BCE and it has been found in an Indian archaeological site dated to 1800 BCE. Main cultivation areas are Eastern and Southern African countries and Southern Asia, Finger millet is a short-day plant with a growing optimum at 12 h daylenght for most varieties. Its main growing area ranges from 20° N to 20° S, nevertheless, finger millet is found to be grown at 30° N in the Himalaya region. It is generally considered as a drought tolerant crop, but compared with other millets, such as pearl millet and sorghum it preferes moderate rainfall. The majority of worldwide finger millet farmers grow it rainfed, although yields often can be improved when irrigation is applied. In India, finger millet is a typical rabi crop, heat tolerance of finger millet is high. For Ugandan finger millet varieties for instance, the average growth temperature ranges at about 27 °C. Relatively to other millet species finger millet has a tolerance to cool temperatures. It is grown from about 500 meters above sea level up to about 2400 meters above sea level, by that, it can be cultivated on higher elevations than most tropical crops. Finger millet can grow on soils, including highly weathered tropical lateritic soils. Furthermore, it can tolerate soil salinity up to a certain extent and its ability to bear waterlogging is limited, therefore good drainage of the soils and moderate water holding capacity are optimal. Finger millet can tolerate moderately acidic soils but also moderately alkaline soils, Finger millet monocrops grown under rainfed conditions are most common in drier areas of Eastern Africa. In addition, intercropping with legumes, such as cowpea or pigeon pea, are quite common in East Africa. Tropical Central Africa supports scattered regions of finger millet intercropping mostly with legumes and its seeds are very small, which leads to a relatively slow development in early growing stages. This makes finger millet a weak competitor for light, water, in East and Southern Africa, the closely related species Eleusine indica is a severe weed competitor of finger millet. Especially in early growing stages of the crop and the weed and when broadcast seeding instead of row seeding is applied, besides Eleusine indica, the species Xanthium strumarium, which is animal disperesed and the stolon-owning species Cyperus rotondus and Cynodon dactylon are important finger millet weeds
Finger millet
–
Finger millet
Finger millet
–
Harvested finger millet in Uganda
Finger millet
–
Growing finger millet in Africa has been encouraged by some international development programs.
Finger millet
–
A grocery shop selling ragi in
Tamil Nadu
15.
Foxtail millet
–
Foxtail millet is an annual grass grown for human food. It is the second-most widely planted species of millet, and the most important in East Asia and it has the longest history of cultivation among the millets, having been grown in India since antiquity. According to recent research, it was first domesticated in China around 6,000 BC, other names for the species include dwarf setaria, foxtail bristle-grass, giant setaria, green foxtail, Italian millet, German millet, and Hungarian millet. Foxtail millet is a grass with slim, vertical, leafy stems which can reach a height of 120–200 cm. The seedhead is a dense, hairy panicle 5–30 cm long, the small seeds, around 2 mm in diameter, are encased in a thin, papery hull which is easily removed in threshing. Seed color varies greatly between varieties, the grain obtained from it is called jopsal, a word that is commonly used in Korean as a metaphor for pettiness or innumerable small things. It is the commonly used for the grain after it has been husked, unhusked grain is called guzi in North China. Marathi, kang or rala Sinhala, thana haal Tamil, thinai, kavalai, or kambankorai, the gruel made from millet, the staple of Ancient Tamils, is called kali, moddak kali, kuul, or sangati. In South India, it has been a staple diet among people for a time from the sangam period. It is popularly quoted in the old Tamil texts and is associated with Lord Muruga. In China, foxtail millet is the most common millet and one of the food crops. In Southeast Asia, foxtail millet is commonly cultivated in its dry, in Europe and North America it is planted at a moderate scale for hay and silage, and to a more limited extent for birdseed. It is a warm season crop, typically planted in late spring, Harvest for hay or silage can be made in 65–70 days, and for grain in 75–90 days. Its early maturity and efficient use of water make it suitable for raising in dry areas. Diseases of foxtail millet include leaf and head blast disease caused by Magnaporthe grisea, smut disease caused by Ustilago crameri, the unharvested crop is also susceptible to attack by birds and rodents. The wild antecedent of foxtail millet has been identified as Setaria viridis. Zohary and Hopf note that the difference between the wild and cultivated forms is their seed dispersal biology. Wild and weedy forms shatter their seed while the cultivars retain them, more recently, the Cishan culture of China has been identified as the earliest to domesticate foxtail millet around 6500–5500 BC
Foxtail millet
–
Foxtail millet
Foxtail millet
–
Seeds of foxtail millet
16.
East Asia
–
East Asia is the eastern subregion of the Asian continent, which can be defined in either geographical or ethno-cultural terms. Geographically and geopolitically, it includes China, Taiwan, Mongolia, Korea and Japan, it covers about 12,000,000 km2, or about 28% of the Asian continent, the East Asian people comprise more than 1.5 billion people. About 38% of the population of Asia and 22%, or over one fifth, the overall population density of the region is 133 inhabitants per square kilometre, about three times the world average of 45/km2. Historically, societies in East Asia have been part of the Chinese cultural sphere, major religions include Buddhism, Confucianism or Neo-Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese folk religion in China and Taiwan, Shinto in Japan, Korean shamanism in Korea. Shamanism is also prevalent among Mongolians and other populations of northern East Asia. The Chinese calendar is the root from which many other East Asian calendars are derived, Chinese Dynasties dominated the region in matters of culture, trade, and exploration as well as militarily for a very long time. There are records of tributes sent overseas from the kingdoms of Korea. There were also considerable levels of cultural and religious exchange between the Chinese and other regional Dynasties and Kingdoms, as connections began to strengthen with the Western world, Chinas power began to diminish. Around the same time, Japan solidified itself as a nation state, throughout World War II, Korea, Taiwan, much of eastern China, Hong Kong, and Vietnam all fell under Japanese control. Culturally, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam are commonly seen as being encompassed by cultural East Asia, there are mixed debates around the world whether these countries or regions should be considered in East Asia or not. Vietnam Siberia in Russia Sovereignty issues exist over some territories in the South China Sea, however, in this context, the term Far East is often more appropriate which covers ASEAN countries and the countries in East Asia. However, being a Eurocentric term, Far East describes the geographical position in relation to Europe rather than its location within Asia. Alternatively, the term Asia Pacific Region is often used in describing East Asia and this usage, which is seen in economic and diplomatic discussions, is at odds with the historical meanings of both East Asia and Northeast Asia. The Council on Foreign Relations defines Northeast Asia as Japan and Korea, the military and economic superpower of China became the largest economy in the world in 2014, surpassing the United States of America. Currently in East Asia, trading systems are open, and zero or low duties on imports of consumer and capital goods etc. have considerably helped stimulate cost-efficiency. Free and flexible labor and other markets are important factors making for high levels of business-economic performance. East Asian populations have demonstrated highly positive work ethics, there are relatively large and fast-growing markets for consumer goods and services of all kinds. The culture of East Asia has been influenced by the civilisation of China, East Asia, as well as Vietnam, share a Confucian ethical philosophy, Buddhism, political and legal structures, and historically a common writing system
East Asia
–
Tokyo is the largest city in the world, both in
metropolitan population and
economy.
East Asia
–
East Asia
East Asia
–
Seoul is the capital and largest city of South Korea (ROK), and is a leading global technology hub.
East Asia
–
Kaohsiung is the second largest city in Taiwan.
Kaohsiung Harbor is one of the largest harbors in the world.
17.
Civilizations
–
Historically, a civilization was a so-called advanced culture in contrast to more supposedly primitive cultures. As an uncountable noun, civilization also refers to the process of a society developing into a centralized, urbanized, stratified structure, Civilization concentrates power, extending human control over the rest of nature, including over other human beings. The earlier neolithic technology and lifestyle was established first in the Middle East, and later in the Yangtze and Yellow River basins in China, similar pre-civilized neolithic revolutions also began independently from 7,000 BCE in such places as northwestern South America and Mesoamerica. These were among the six civilizations worldwide that arose independently, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BCE, with civilizations developing from 6,500 years ago. Towards the end of the Neolithic period, various elitist Chalcolithic civilizations began to rise in various cradles from around 3300 BCE. Chalcolithic civilizations, as defined above, also developed in Pre-Columbian Americas and, despite an early start in Egypt, Axum and Kush, the English word civilization comes from the 16th-century French civilisé, from Latin civilis, related to civis and civitas. The fundamental treatise is Norbert Eliass The Civilizing Process, which traces social mores from medieval courtly society to the Early Modern period, in The Philosophy of Civilization, Albert Schweitzer outlines two opinions, one purely material and the other material and ethical. Adjectives like civility developed in the mid-16th century, the abstract noun civilization, meaning civilized condition, came in the 1760s, again from French. The word was therefore opposed to barbarism or rudeness, in the pursuit of progress characteristic of the Age of Enlightenment. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, during the French revolution, civilization was used in the singular, never in the plural and this is still the case in French. The use of civilizations as a noun was in occasional use in the 19th century. Only in this sense does it become possible to speak of a medieval civilization. Already in the 18th century, civilization was not always seen as an improvement, one historically important distinction between culture and civilization is from the writings of Rousseau, particularly his work about education, Emile. From this, a new approach was developed, especially in Germany, first by Johann Gottfried Herder and this sees cultures as natural organisms, not defined by conscious, rational, deliberative acts, but a kind of pre-rational folk spirit. Civilization, in contrast, though more rational and more successful in material progress, is unnatural and leads to vices of social life such as guile, hypocrisy, envy and avarice. In World War II, Leo Strauss, having fled Germany, argued in New York that this opinion of civilization was behind Nazism, Social scientists such as V. Gordon Childe have named a number of traits that distinguish a civilization from other kinds of society. Andrew Nikiforuk argues that civilizations relied on shackled human muscle and it took the energy of slaves to plant crops, clothe emperors, and build cities and considers slavery to be a common feature of pre-modern civilizations. All civilizations have depended on agriculture for subsistence, grain farms can result in accumulated storage and a surplus of food, particularly when people use intensive agricultural techniques such as artificial fertilization, irrigation and crop rotation
Civilizations
–
Ancient Egypt is a canonical example of an early culture considered a civilization.
Civilizations
–
"No one in the history of civilization has shaped our understanding of science and natural philosophy more than the great
Greek philosopher and scientist
Aristotle (384–322 B.C.), who exerted a profound and pervasive influence for more than two thousand years" —Gary B. Ferngren
Civilizations
Civilizations
18.
Rice
–
Rice is the seed of the grass species Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima. As a cereal grain, it is the most widely consumed staple food for a part of the worlds human population. It is the agricultural commodity with the third-highest worldwide production, after sugarcane and maize, wild rice, from which the crop was developed, may have its native range in Australia. Chinese legends attribute the domestication of rice to Shennong, the emperor of China. Genetic evidence has shown that rice originates from a single domestication 8, previously, archaeological evidence had suggested that rice was domesticated in the Yangtze River valley region in China. From East Asia, rice was spread to Southeast and South Asia, Rice was introduced to Europe through Western Asia, and to the Americas through European colonization. There are many varieties of rice and culinary preferences tend to vary regionally, in some areas such as the Far East or Spain, there is a preference for softer and stickier varieties. Rice, a monocot, is grown as an annual plant, although in tropical areas it can survive as a perennial. The rice plant can grow to 1–1.8 m tall, occasionally more depending on the variety and it has long, slender leaves 50–100 cm long and 2–2.5 cm broad. The small wind-pollinated flowers are produced in a branched arching to pendulous inflorescence 30–50 cm long, the edible seed is a grain 5–12 mm long and 2–3 mm thick. Rice cultivation is well-suited to countries and regions with low costs and high rainfall, as it is labor-intensive to cultivate. However, rice can be grown practically anywhere, even on a hill or mountain area with the use of water-controlling terrace systems. Although its parent species are native to Asia and certain parts of Africa, centuries of trade, the traditional method for cultivating rice is flooding the fields while, or after, setting the young seedlings. The name wild rice is used for species of the genera Zizania and Porteresia. The Greek word is the source of all European words, the origin of the Greek word is unclear. It is sometimes held to be from the Tamil word அரிசி, however, Krishnamurti disagrees with the notion that Old Tamil arici is the source of the Greek term, and proposes that it was borrowed from descendants of Proto-Dravidian *wariñci instead. The varieties of rice are typically classified as long-, medium-, the grains of long-grain rice tend to remain intact after cooking, medium-grain rice becomes more sticky. Medium-grain rice is used for dishes, for risotto in Italy
Rice
–
A mixture of brown, white, and red indica rice, also containing
wild rice, Zizania species
Rice
–
Oryza sativa with small
wind-pollinated flowers
Rice
–
Cooked brown rice from Bhutan
Rice
–
Rice can come in many shapes, colours and sizes. Photo by the
IRRI.
19.
Wheat
–
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region but now cultivated worldwide. In 2016, world production of wheat was 749 million tonnes, making it the second most-produced cereal after maize, since 1960, world production of wheat and other grain crops has tripled and is expected to grow further through the middle of the 21st Century. This grain is grown on land area than any other commercial food. World trade in wheat is greater than for all other crops combined, globally, wheat is the leading source of vegetal protein in human food, having a protein content of about 13%, which is relatively high compared to other major cereals and staple foods. The archaeological record suggests that wheat was first cultivated in the regions of the Fertile Crescent around 9600 BCE. In a small part of the population, gluten – the major part of wheat protein – can trigger coeliac disease, non-coeliac gluten sensitivity, gluten ataxia. Cultivation and repeated harvesting and sowing of the grains of wild grasses led to the creation of domestic strains, in domesticated wheat, grains are larger, and the seeds remain attached to the ear by a toughened rachis during harvesting. In wild strains, a more fragile rachis allows the ear to easily shatter, as the traits that improve wheat as a food source also involve the loss of the plants natural seed dispersal mechanisms, highly domesticated strains of wheat cannot survive in the wild. Cultivation of wheat began to spread beyond the Fertile Crescent after about 8000 BCE, jared Diamond traces the spread of cultivated emmer wheat starting in the Fertile Crescent sometime before 8800 BCE. Archaeological analysis of wild emmer indicates that it was first cultivated in the southern Levant with finds dating back as far as 9600 BCE, Genetic analysis of wild einkorn wheat suggests that it was first grown in the Karacadag Mountains in southeastern Turkey. Dated archeological remains of wheat in settlement sites near this region, including those at Abu Hureyra in Syria. With the anomalous exception of two grains from Iraq ed-Dubb, the earliest carbon-14 date for einkorn wheat remains at Abu Hureyra is 7800 to 7500 years BCE. Remains of harvested emmer from several sites near the Karacadag Range have been dated to between 8600 and 8400 BCE, that is, in the Neolithic period and these remains were dated by Willem van Zeist and his assistant Johanna Bakker-Heeres to 8800 BCE. They also concluded that the settlers of Tell Aswad did not develop this form of emmer themselves, the cultivation of emmer reached Greece, Cyprus and India by 6500 BCE, Egypt shortly after 6000 BCE, and Germany and Spain by 5000 BCE. The early Egyptians were developers of bread and the use of the oven, by 3000 BCE, wheat had reached the British Isles and Scandinavia. A millennium later it reached China, the oldest evidence for hexaploid wheat has been confirmed through DNA analysis of wheat seeds, dating to around 6400-6200 BCE, recovered from Çatalhöyük. The first identifiable bread wheat with sufficient gluten for yeasted breads has been identified using DNA analysis in samples from a dating to approximately 1350 BCE at Assiros in Macedonia. From Asia, wheat continued to spread throughout Europe, in the British Isles, wheat straw was used for roofing in the Bronze Age, and was in common use until the late 19th century
Wheat
–
Wheat
Wheat
–
Spikelets of a hulled wheat,
einkorn
Wheat
–
Green wheat a month before harvest
Wheat
–
Wheat harvest on the
Palouse,
Idaho, United States
20.
Paniceae
–
Paniceae is a large tribe of the Panicoideae subfamily in the grasses, the only in the monotypic supertribe Panicodae. It includes roughly 1,500 species in 84 genera, primarily found in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, Paniceae includes species using either of the C4 and C3 photosynthetic pathways, as well as presumably intermediate species. Most of the millets are members of tribe Paniceae, the tribe is subdivided into seven subtribes, but some genera are as yet unplaced. Species in the Paniceae have a chromosome number of x =9, while species with x =10 formerly included are now recognised as separate tribe
Paniceae
–
Paniceae
Paniceae
–
St. Augustine Grass
Paniceae
–
Axonopus compressus
Paniceae
–
Cenchrus echinatus
21.
Andropogoneae
–
The Andropogoneae, sometimes called the sorghum tribe, are a large tribe of grasses with roughly 1,200 species in 90 genera, mainly distributed in tropical and subtropical areas. They include such important crops as maize, sugarcane, and sorghum, all species in this tribe use C4 carbon fixation, which makes them competitive under warm, high-light conditions. Andropogoneae is classified in supertribe Andropogonodae together with its sister group Arundinelleae, subdivisions include 12 subtribes, but the position of several genera within them is still unresolved. Hybridisation was probably important in the evolution of the Andropogoneae, and the tribes systematics is still not completely resolved
Andropogoneae
–
Andropogoneae
22.
Sorghum
–
Sorghum is a genus of flowering plants in the grass family Poaceae. Seventeen of the species are native to Australia, with the range of some extending to Africa, Asia, Mesoamerica. One species is grown for grain, while others are used as fodder plants, either intentionally cultivated or allowed to grow naturally. The plants are cultivated in warm climates worldwide and naturalized in many places, Sorghum is in the subfamily Panicoideae and the tribe Andropogoneae. One species, Sorghum bicolor, native to Africa with many cultivated forms now, is an important crop worldwide, used for food, animal fodder, the production of alcoholic beverages, and biofuels. Most varieties are drought- and heat-tolerant, and are important in arid regions. These varieties form important components of pastures in many tropical regions, S. bicolor is an important food crop in Africa, Central America, and South Asia, and is the fifth-most important cereal crop grown in the world. Some species of sorghum can contain levels of cyanide, hordenine. When stressed by drought or heat, plants can contain toxic levels of cyanide and/or nitrates at later stages in growth. Another Sorghum species, Johnson grass, is classified as a species in the US by the Department of Agriculture. Sorghum is efficient in converting solar energy to chemical energy, biofuel, using sweet sorghum as a high sugar content from its stalk for ethanol production, is being developed with biomass which can be turned into charcoal, syngas, and bio-oil. In a 100 gram amount, raw sorghum provides 329 calories, 72% carbohydrates, 4% fat and 11% protein. Sorghum supplies numerous essential nutrients in rich content, including protein, fiber, the B vitamins, niacin, thiamin and vitamin B6, Sorghum nutrient contents generally are similar to those of raw oats. Among other similarities to oats, sorghum contains no gluten, making it useful for gluten-free diets, Agricultural Innovation in the Early Islamic World, The Diffusion of Crops and Farming Techniques, 700–1100. Species Profile- Johnsongrass, National Invasive Species Information Center, United States National Agricultural Library, lists general information and resources for Johnsongrass
Sorghum
–
Sorghum
23.
Teff
–
Eragrostis tef, known as teff, Williams lovegrass, annual bunch grass, taf, or xaafii, is an annual grass, a species of lovegrass native to Eritrea and Ethiopia. Eragrostis tef has an attractive nutrition profile, being high in fiber and iron and providing protein. It is similar to millet and quinoa in cooking, but the seed is much smaller and cooks faster, Eragrostis tef is adapted to environments ranging from drought stress to waterlogged soil conditions. Maximum teff production occurs at altitudes of 1,800 to 2,100 m, growing season rainfall of 450 to 550 mm, teff is daylight-sensitive and flowers best with 12 hours of daylight. Teff is an important food grain in Ethiopia and Eritrea, where it is used to make injera or keyta and it is now raised in the US, in Idaho and Nevada. In addition to people from traditional teff-consuming countries, customers include those on gluten-restricted diets, because of its small seeds, a handful is enough to sow a large area. This property makes teff particularly suited to a seminomadic lifestyle, Ethiopia had a long-standing ban in effect on the export of teff grain or flour from the country prompted by increasing grain prices. In 2015, that ban was lifted after the introduction of farming techniques which improved yields by 40%, between 8000 and 5000 BC, the people of the Ethiopian highlands were among the first to domesticate plants and animals for food. Teff was one of the earliest plants domesticated, teff is believed to have originated in Ethiopia and Eritrea between 4000 BC and 1000 BC. Genetic evidence points to E. pilosa as the most likely wild ancestor, a 19th-century identification of teff seeds from an ancient Egyptian site is now considered doubtful, the seeds in question are more likely of E. aegyptiaca, a common wild grass in Egypt. Teff is noted for its quality and high yield, when compared to other forage rotations. It is also known as an emergency crop because it is planted late in the spring when the season is warmer. It does not tolerate any type of frost, the first draft of the Eragrostis tef genome was published in 2014. In 1996, the US National Research Council characterized teff as having the potential to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development, teff has been widely cultivated and used in Ethiopia and neighboring countries, accounting for about a quarter of total cereal production in Ethiopia. Teff is an ingredient for preparing injera, a sourdough-risen flatbread. Teff is high in protein, carbohydrates and fiber, in one study in Ethiopia, farmers indicated a preference among consumers for white teff over darker colored varieties. As a nutritious fodder, teff is used to feed ruminants in Ethiopia, teff is also valued for its fine straw, which is traditionally mixed with mud for building purposes. Purdue University Center for New Crops & Plant Products – Eragrostis tef University of Bern Tef Improvement Project Dressler, S. Schmidt, M. & Zizka, african plants – a Photo Guide
Teff
–
Eragrostis tef
Teff
–
Teff and
sorghum, ingredients for Tella
24.
White fonio
–
Digitaria exilis, referred to as findi in areas of Africa, such as The Gambia, with English common names white fonio, fonio millet, and hungry rice or acha rice, is a grass species. It is the most important of a group of wild. It has potential to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development, the name is from Wolof foño. Fonio has continued to be important locally because it is nutritious and one of the worlds fastest growing cereals, reaching maturity in as little as six to eight weeks. It is a crop that can be relied on in areas with poor soils. The grains are used in porridge and couscous, for bread, the small grains make it difficult and time-consuming to remove the husk. Traditional methods include pounding it in a mortar with sand or popping it over a flame, the invention of a simple fonio husking machine offers an easier mechanical way to dehusk. The genetic diversity of Digitaria exilis varies from region to region in Africa, for example, not much genetic diversity was detected among the domesticated Digitaria exilis landraces from Mali. In contrast, large levels of genetic diversity were detected among the domesticated Digitaria exilis landraces of the Upper Niger River Basin of West Africa, the many different landraces of Digitaria exilis are affected differently by the various processing methods. The fonio is an annual, erect plant which reaches stature heights from 30 to 80 centimeters. The ears consist of two to five narrow part ears, which are up to 15 centimeters long, the spikelets comprise a sterile flower and a fertile flower, the latter of which gives rise to the fonio grain. The grain is a caryopsis, which surrounded by glumes. Its size is small, only 1.5 mm. The colour ranges from white, yellow. Fonio mature faster than all other cereals, some varieties can already be harvested 42–56 days after sowing. Other ripen more slowly, usually in 165–180 days, Fonio is one of the ancient African crops, possibly the oldest West African crop as its cultivation seems to have started about 7,000 years ago. The first references to Fonio as food are reported from the mid-14th century, in some regions of Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Nigeria, Fonio is the most important or one of the main cereals. The White Fonio has its main growing region in the plateaus of Nigeria. The second Fonio-species Iburu or Black Fonio is limited on the Jos-Bauchi Plateau in Nigeria, Fonio is grown in parts of the Dominican Republic, where it has already brought in 1500 from West Africa, firstly only grew as a weed, but it is also cultivated again lately
White fonio
–
Digitaria exilis
25.
Digitaria sanguinalis
–
Digitaria sanguinalis is a species of grass known by several common names, including hairy crabgrass, hairy finger-grass, large crabgrass, crab finger grass, purple crabgrass. It is one of the species of the genus Digitaria. It is used as fodder, and the seeds are edible and have been used as a grain in Germany and especially Poland. This has earned it the name Polish Millet and it is an annual grass with an inflorescence of up to nine very long, very thin, radiating branches atop its stems. Each branch is lined with pairs of tiny spikelets. The inflorescences may be reddish or purplish, Digitaria sanguinalis was brought to the United States by some immigrants to serve as hand-foraged grain. The grass is highly nutritious, especially before the plant exhausts itself producing seed. It is frequently sown in fields to provide graze for animals, compared to other grasses, it has a relatively high protein percentage. Farmers will sometimes till patches in their pastures in the late spring, for human consumption, crabgrass necessarily must be harvested by hand, because it produces grain throughout summer, rather than simultaneously. Machine harvesting would require monthly passes, and even much of the seed would go to waste. Crabgrass produces a high amount of grain, it smothers other weeds, it acts as its own mulch. Its adaptability makes it a candidate for environmental small-farming and its usefulness to nineteenth-century homesteaders has made its seed widespread, and today is generally considered an unattractive nuisance. Crabgrass takes advantage of low fertility and drought, since this tends to other grasses. It is difficult to kill, as it will regenerate, the most efficient means of control is to pull patches, and keep the rest of the lawn watered and mowed at a height of two-three inches
Digitaria sanguinalis
–
Digitaria sanguinalis
Digitaria sanguinalis
Digitaria sanguinalis
Digitaria sanguinalis
26.
Echinochloa frumentacea
–
Echinochloa frumentacea is a species of Echinochloa. Both Echinochloa frumentacea and E. esculenta are called Japanese millet and this millet is widely grown as a cereal in India, Pakistan, and Nepal. Its wild ancestor is the tropical grass Echinochloa colona, but the date or region of domestication is uncertain. It is cultivated on marginal lands where rice and other crops will not grow well, the grains are cooked in water, like rice, or boiled with milk and sugar. Sometimes it is fermented to make beer, while also being part of staple diet for some communities in India, these seeds are, in particular, eaten during religious fasting. For this reason, these seeds are also referred to as vrat ke chawal in Hindi. Other common names to identify these seeds include Jhangora in the Garhwal Hills, Samo seeds, Morio / Mario / Moraiaya seeds, Bhagar
Echinochloa frumentacea
–
Echinochloa frumentacea
27.
Echinochloa crus-galli
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Echinochloa crus-galli is a type of wild grass originating from tropical Asia that was formerly classified as a type of panicum grass. It is commonly known as cockspur, barnyard millet, Japanese millet, water grass, common barnyard grass and this plant can grow to 60 in height and has long, flat leaves which are often purplish at the base. Most stems are upright, but some spread out over the ground. Stems are flattened at the base, the seed heads are a distinctive feature, often purplish, with large millet-like seeds in crowded spikelets. Considered one of the worlds worst weeds, it reduces crop yields, the high levels of nitrates it accumulates can poison livestock. It acts as a host for several mosaic virus diseases, heavy infestations can interfere with mechanical harvesting. Individual plants can produce up to 40,000 seeds per year, water, birds, insects, machinery, and animal feet disperse it, but contaminated seed is probably the most common dispersal method. Polymorphous coarse, tufted annual, tall and often weedy, culms erect to decumbent,0. 8-1.5 m tall, rather thick, branching at base.5 mm long. Barnyard grass commonly occurs throughout tropical Asia and Africa in fields and along roadsides, ditches, along railway lines and it also invades riverbanks and the shores of lakes and ponds. It occurs in all agricultural regions and this species is considered an invasive species in North America where it occurs throughout the continental United States. It is also found in southern Canada from British Columbia east to Newfoundland and it was first spotted in the Great Lakes region in 1843. Ranging from Boreal Moist to Wet through Tropical Very Dry to Moist forest life zones, adapted to nearly all types of wet places, this grass is often a common weed in paddy fields, roadsides, cultivated areas, and fallow fields. It grows on variety of wet sites such as ditches, low areas in fertile croplands and wet wastes, succeeds in cool regions, but better adapted to areas where average annual temperature is 14-16 °C. A warm-season grass used as fodder and is sometimes cultivated for this purpose. It is also suited for silage, but not for hay and it is fed green to animals and provides fodder throughout the year, hay made from this plant can be kept up to 6 years. This grass is used for reclamation of saline and alkaline areas. The grain of some varieties is eaten by humans in times of scarcity, the roots are boiled to cure indigestion in the Philippines. The young shoots are eaten as a vegetable, the plant extract is used in diseases of the spleen
Echinochloa crus-galli
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Echinochloa crus-galli
Echinochloa crus-galli
Echinochloa crus-galli
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Brown spot
Bipolaris oryzae
28.
Panicum sumatrense
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Panicum sumatrense, known as little millet, is a species of millet in the family Poaceae. This species of cereal is similar in habit to the proso millet except that it is smaller and it is an annual herbaceous plant, which grows straight or with folded blades to a height of 30 cm to 1 m. The leaves are linear, with the sometimes hairy laminae and membranous hairy ligules, the panicles are from 4 to 15 cm in length with 2 to 3.5 mm long awn. The grain is round and smooth,1.8 to 1.9 mm long, there have been two subspecies described, Panicum sumatrense Roth ex Roem. Sumatrense In the temperate zones of Asia, the Caucasus, China, East Asia and also in the tropics of the continent, India, Indochina and it can withstand both drought and waterlogging. It can be cultivated up to 2000 m above sea level. Hindi, Moraiyo, Kutki, Shavan. Bengali, Sama. Tamil, Samai. Gujarati, Gajro, Kuri. Telugu, Samalu. Marathi, Sava, Halvi, Vari. Oriya, Suan. Kannada, the largest cultivation is in central India. Usually, it is planted using a seed drill and it can also if necessary be planted spoiled. The green plant can also be used in part as cattle feed, the straw can be mixed with clay or cement be used in construction. The harvest yield is from 230 to 900 kg/ha, at the Indus Valley Civilisation sites of Harappa and Farmana, the millet assemblage was dominated by little millet. Over 10,000 grains of little millet were recovered at Harappa, at Harappa, little millet cultivation peaked at around 2600 BC, accounting for around 5% of the total cereal assemblage. Little Millet is cooked like rice, sometimes the millet is also milled and baked. The protein content of the grain is 7. 7% and this article is based on a translation of the corresponding article in the German Wikipedia
Panicum sumatrense
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Panicum sumatrense
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India
Nigeria
Niger
China
Mali
Burkina Faso
Sudan
Ethiopia
Chad
Senegal
. PMID 19383791. doi:10.1073/pnas.0900158106.
"Millet". Encyclopædia Britannica. 18 (11th ed.). 1911.
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