Lecture No.

5
RAGI - Eleusine coracana Gaertn. (2n = 36)
(Finger millet / Kezhvaragu / Mutthair/ Thamida / Nacheni /
Mandal )
Finger millet is an important staple food in parts of East and Central
Africa. And
India, particularly in Karnataka. It is used for malting and brewing.
SYSTEMATIC POSITION :
Division : Phanerogams
Sub - Division: Anageosperms
Class : Monocotyledon
Series : Glumacea
Sub class : Glumiflorae
Family : Poaceae
Tribe : Eragrostideae
ORIGIN :
Place of origin: India
Distribution : India, Africa Srilanka japan,
In India : Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharastra, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar,
and Uttar Pradesh.
CLASSIFICATION :
The genus Eleusine consists of eleven species. Of these six are diploids
and five
are tetraploids.
Eleusine indica is a diploid with 2n - 18. Eleusine coracana and E.
africana are
tetraploids (2n = 36).
ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED SPECIES:
E. indica is considered as one of the parent for the tetraploid E.africana
E.coracana is mutant selected from of E. africana.
Hybridisation and introgression between E.coracana and E.africana
continued and
still continues in the highlands of Tropical Africa.
CHARACTERS OF ELEUSINE:
Infloresence is contracted into a number of digitate spikes of spikelet.
Spikelet
consists of more than two florets subtended by two glumes.

Classification of cultivated ragi

The cultivars of E. coracana differ from the wild species E. indica and E.
africana in having larger seeds and the spikelets do not shatter at maturity. Mehra (1963)
recognizes two groups of E. coracana as noted below.
1. African high land types:
Bearing resemblance to E. africana, with long spikelets, long glumes, and long
lemmas with grain enclosed within the florets.
2. Afro-Asiatic types
With close resemblance to E. indica, short spikelets, short glume, short lemmas,
and the mature grains exposed out of the florets.

TYPES OF RAGI BASED ON EARHEAD SHAPE :

Fisty : Incurving so deep that gives a fisty appearance
Incurved : Practically closes the central cavity
Top curved : The top of each finger is curved towards the inner cavity
Open : The fingers are errect
Cock’s comb : Just like comb of a cock.

Uses of Ragi
1. Finger millet is an important staple food in parts of East and Central Africa and
India particularly in Karnataka.
2. It is used for malting and brewing
 3. The grain is ground into a flour and malt into a stiff mush or porridge by adding
to boiling water and stirring during heating until it attains the right consistency.
4. Malted grain dried, roasted and ground
5. Finger millet can be stored for long periods of up to ten years or more without
deterioration or weevil damage.
6. The straw can be used as fodder and the fields are often grazed after the ears have
been harvested.

Chemical composition
Water 13 %
Carbohydrate 72%
Protein 8%
Fat 1.3%
Fibre 3%
Ash 2.7%
The prolamine of Ragi Eleusinin has high biological value with a good content of
cystine, tyrosine, tryptophane and methionine, which are important in the prevention of
Kwashiorkor, but low in lysine. The grain is a rich source of calcium phosphorus and
iron,
FRUIT:
Utricle, pericarp forms a thin, wrinkled, papery covering not fused with
seed and
break away easily from the seed. Colour of seed coat may be white or
brown.
.
SMALL MILLETS
The grains of small millets are small in size, hence they are called
small millets.
The characters of small millets are hardy, drought, resistant, with little
care it grows and gives some yield, can be grown in sub marginal lands
also as a rainfed crop, mostly grown by hill tribes.
 FOX TAIL MILLET (THENAI)
Setaria italica (2n:18)
Family: Poaceae

Foxtail millet is the most important millet in India especially in Tamil Nadu,
Karnataka and parts of Maharastra. It is next in importance to Sorghum and finger millet.

BOTANY
Annual grass; seminal roots three followed by numerous thin adventitious roots,
culms erect, slender, internodes hollow, tillering; leaf sheath longer than internodes,
ligulate; leaf blade linear; tip acuminate; mid rib prominent. Inflorescence spike like
panicle, carrying 6-12 two flowered sub sessile spikelets each subtended by 1-3 bristles;
stamens three; ovary with two long styles ending in plumose stigma; fruit caryopsis
tightly enclosed by lemma and palea.

Center of origin: East Asia

Wild relatives
Setaria italica was probably derived from S. viridis a common weed in the old
world. It seems that S. italica and Panicum miliaceum were among the first crops to be
domesticated in central eastern Asia. They were widely spread throughout Asia and
Eastern Europe in pre historic times.
Uses
1. It is used as human food in Asia, Europe, North Africa and Japan.
2. Foxtail millet may be cooked and eaten like rice either entire or broken
3. It may be ground and made into porridge and puddings.
4. In Russia it is weed for brewing bear.
5. It is a well known bird seed for feeding to case birds
6. It is an important fodder crop and is grown in United States for hay and silage.
 LITTLE MILLET (SAMAI)
Panicum sumatranse (P. miliare) (2n: 36)
Family: Poaceae

Introduction
This minor millet in grown throughout India to a limited extent.

An annual tufted grass with slender culms, soft leaves, inflorescence a panicle
with erect hairy branches; spikelets in pairs with two glumes; floret with two lemmas,
two lodicules, three stamens and ovary with plumose stigma; fruit a caryopsis.
Centre of origin: W. Africa
Distribution : India, Sri Lanka, parts of China.
In India : Karnataka, Tamil nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharastra, Gujarat
Wild relatives: P. psilopodium

Uses of Little millet

1. Husked grain may be cooked in the same way as rice
2. It can be made into flour
3. The soft straw is palatable to cattle and the green plant has potentialities as a
quick growing fodder.