KUTHIRAIVALI
(BARNYARD MILLET) DATABASE

Echinochloa is a grass genus, some of whose members are millets grown as cereal or fodder crops. The most notable of these are Japanese millet (E. esculenta) in East Asia, Indian barnyard millet (E. frumentacea) in South Asia, and burgu millet (E. stagnina) in West Africa. Collectively, the members of this genus are called barnyard grasses (though this may also refer to E. crus-galli specifically), barnyard millets or billion-dollar grasses.

This type of millet is the fastest growing of all millets and produces a crop in six weeks. In the United States it can reach up to eight harvests per year as a forage crop. Barnyard millet is an erect plant 60-130 cm tall with panicle inflorescence made up of 5-15 sessile branches. Spikelets are brownish to purple. Seeds are slightly longer than wide and bigger than wild barnyard grass seeds.