Botanical Description, Brief History of Browntop Millet and Its Spectacular Adaptations as a Hardy Food and Feed Crop

Browntop millet is a hardy food and feed crop that tolerates flooding, dry spells, as well as shade. The origin though believed to be from Southeast Asia, there are archaeological evidences that strongly pins it down to the Indian subcontinent. The crop is also found in China, Australia, Arabia, and Africa. The crop was introduced to the USA in the early nineteenth century, especially to feed game birds. The crop is gaining popularity in recent times, especially in the cuisine of the southern states of India, owing to its high dietary fiber content to address the obesity problems. This miracle crop has great potential in adapting to the agroforestry systems due to its shade tolerance feature. However, the genetic improvement efforts towards this crop were found to be very poor. Owing to the current era of omics, there is a great need for studying the crop at a molecular level to identify new genes conferring hardiness for its wide adaptive potential. This is necessary to increase the genetic base of the existing gene pools. This chapter focuses on the botany of browntop millet, origin, distribution, habitat, adaption, crop diversity, and nutritional aspects of the crop.