Agronomic Management of Little Millet (Panicum sumatrense L.) for Enhancement of Productivity and Sustainability

Abstract

During recent time small millets have been re-evaluated as nutri-cereals. The grains of small millets are used as nutritious food and straw as palatable forage for livestock. Moreover, these crops enrich agro-diversity, check erosion in arid regions, sequester carbon and assure food and nutritional security to smallholders in drylands. But productivity of small millets is less compared to other cereals. Like other small millets, little millet (Panicum sumatrens L.) is also rich in nutrients, possesses other qualities and as a short duration crop it fits to different cropping systems. Sufficient research work has not been carried out on agronomic management targeting higher productivity. An initiative has been taken to gather information from available literature on improved agronomic management of little millet and presented in the article. Further, the article highlighted the future scope of research on the crop.