Domestication of mawa millet (Echinochloa colona)

Abstract

a s a d a R a o ,3 M . H . M e n g e s h a ,3 a n d D . E . B r in k 2 Two species o f Echinochloa are grown as cereals. Echinochloa crusgalli is native to tem perate Eurasia and was dom esticated in Japan som e 4,000 yr ago. Echinochloa colona is widely distributed in the tropics and subtropics o f the Old World. It was dom esticated in India. Echinochloa colona is m orphologically al lied to E. crusgalli, but hybrids betw een-them are sterile. Echinochloa colona differs consistently from E. crusgalli in having sm aller spikelets with membran aceous rather than chartaceous glum es. H ybrids between wild and cultivated taxa o f E. colona and betw een those o f E. crusgalli are fertile. Cultivated E. colona is variable. It is grown as a cereal across India, Kashm ir and Sikkim. Four m orphological races are recognized, although these do not have geograph ical, ecological or ethnological unity. R ace laxa is confined to Sikkim where races robusta, intermedia and stolonifera are also grown. In India, races robusta, intermedia and stolonifera are often grown as mixtures, and Echinochloa is som etim es grown as a mixture with other cereals, particularly Setaria italica (foxtail millet) or Eleusine coracana (finger millet). The species is p lan ted on p o o r soil, and som e cultivars m ature in less than 2 mo. They hold considerable prom ise as cereals fo r the sem iarid tropics.

Southern Neolithic Cultivation Systems: A Reconstruction based on Archaeobotanical Evidence

“…Cooke 1908;Singh 1988;Venkata Raju and Pullaiah 1995), and generally mature in about three months (the growth season is clear from the taxa in that they are reported to be grown together in modern contexts, see e.g. De Wet et al 1983a;1983c). Setaria pumila (yellow foxtail) when cultivated is reported to be sown in June-July and reaped October-November (Gammie 1911, p. 4).…”

Variation in seed dormancy in Echinochloa and the development of a standard protocol for germination testing

“…Although considered a weed in many agricultural systems, it is also valued by wildlife managers as a food source for waterfowl (Ahn et al, 2004), and in some regions is used as a grain for human consumption (Partohardjono and Jansen, 1996;Global Facilitation Unit, 2009). According to de Wet et al (1983), Echinochloa is widely distributed in the warmer parts of the world, with two species that have been domesticated for grain production. Echinochloa esculenta (A. Braun) H. Scholz is grown as a relic grain crop of local importance in Asia, and was probably domesticated in Japan or adjacent warm-temperate eastern Asia (IPK, 2009).…”

‘Multi-cropping’, Intercropping and Adaptation to Variable Environments in Indus South Asia

“…Wheat might have been grown as an additional mono-crop, and it may well have been grown in fields separate from the barley, as they have different water and fertilisation requirements, and because of the competitive nature of barley. It is possible that the millets were grown as mixed intercrops (see de Wet et al 1983a). Exploitation of pulses and fruits appears to have been relatively limited, though their presence suggests possible intercropping of winter pulses with barley, wheat or both.…”