''Echinochloa frumentacea'' (Indian barnyard millet, sawa millet, or billion dollar grass)''Echinochloa frumentacea''.
USDA NRCS Plant Fact Sheet. is a species of ''

Echinochloa ''Echinochloa'' is a very widespread genus of plants in the grass family and tribe Paniceae. Some of the species are known by the common names barnyard grass or cockspur grass. Some of the species within this genus are millets that are grown ...

''. Both ''Echinochloa frumentacea'' and '' E. esculenta'' are called Japanese millet. This

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...

is widely grown as a cereal in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, and

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. Its wild ancestor is the tropical grass ''

Echinochloa colona ''Echinochloa colona'', commonly known as jungle rice, wild rice, deccan grass, jharua or awnless barnyard grass, is a type of wild grass originating from tropical Asia. It was formerly classified as a species of ''Panicum''. It is the wild anc ...

'', but the exact date or region of domestication is uncertain. It is cultivated on marginal lands where

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

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 Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

. While also being part of the staple diet for some communities in

, these seeds are, in particular, (cooked and) eaten during

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

fasting Fasting is the act of refraining from eating, and sometimes drinking. However, from a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (before "breakfast"), or to the metabolic sta ...

(willingly abstaining from some types of food / food ingredients). For this reason, these seeds are commonly also referred to as "" in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

(i.e., "rice for fasting", literally). Other common names to identify these seeds include () in

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

, () or () in

Bangla Bangla () may refer to: *Bengali language, an eastern Indo-Aryan language *The endonym of Bengal, a geographical and ethno-linguistic region in South Asia *''Bangla-'', a prefix indicating Bangladesh *West Bengal, a state in eastern India, also kn ...

, in the Garhwal Hills, () in

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

-speaking areas, or (, ) seeds in Gujarati, () in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

, and () in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

Pests

Insect pests include: ;Root feeders *white grubs '' Holotrichia'' sp., '' Anomala dimidiata'', and '' Apogonia'' sp. (in India) ;Seedling feeders *shoot fly '' Atherigona falcata'' *'' Atherigona pulla'', '' Atherigona simplex'', '' Atherigona soccata'', '' Atherigona oryzae'', and '' Atherigona nudiseta'' *armyworm ''

Mythimna separata ''Mythimna separata'', the northern armyworm, oriental armyworm or rice ear-cutting caterpillar, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in China, Japan, South-east Asia, India, eastern Australia, New Zealand, and some Pacific islands. I ...

'' *thrips '' Haplothrips ganglbaueri'' *stem borers '' Sesamia inferens'', ''

Chilo partellus ''Chilo partellus'', the spotted stalk borer or spotted stem borer, is a moth in the family Crambidae. It was described by Charles Swinhoe in 1885. It is found in India, Pakistan, Iran, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, South Africa, Sudan, T ...

'', and '' Chilo diffusilineus'' ;Sucking pests *leafhoppers '' Nephotettix cincticeps'', '' Sogatella furcifera'', and ''

Sogatella kolophon ''Sogatella kolophon'' is a species of delphacid planthopper in the family Delphacidae. It is found in Africa, Australia, the Caribbean, Central America, North America, Oceania, South America, and Southern Asia. Subspecies Three subspecies belo ...

'' *plant hoppers ''

Nilaparvata lugens The brown planthopper (BPH), ''Nilaparvata lugens'' (Stål) (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) is a planthopper species that feeds on rice plants (''Oryza sativa'' L.). These insects are among the most important pests of rice, which is the major staple cro ...

'' and '' Peregrinus maidis'' *leaf bug '' Cletus punctiger'' *aphids '' Hysteroneura setariae'' and '' Macrosiphum eleusines'' ;Leaf feeders *grasshoppers '' Acrida exaltata'', '' Atractomorpha crenulata'', '' Hieroglyphus banian'', '' Hieroglyphus daganensis'', '' Hieroglyphus nigrorepletus'', '' Oxya nitidula'' and '' Oxya bidentata'' *leaf caterpillar '' Euproctis similis'' ;Developing grain pests *bugs '' Agonoscelis pubescens'', '' Dolycoris indicus'', and ''

Nezara viridula ''Nezara viridula'', commonly known as the southern green stink bug (USA), southern green shield bug (UK) or green vegetable bug (Australia and New Zealand), is a plant-feeding stink bug. Believed to have originated in Ethiopia, it can now be f ...

References

Millets frumentacea Cereals Flora of Malta {{Panicoideae-stub

Pests

See also

References