Abstract

The Barnyard millet, known in Tamil as Kuthiraivali (horse-tail), is one of the less important millets of the Madras Presidency. Except in certain restricted tracts its importance as a food crop in India is not much. In view of the fact that it forms a good famine crop and also comes to the rescue of very poor cultivators, some of its characters were studied at the Millets Breeding Station and are presented below:- This plant is considered to have been first brought into cultivation in India. That it has been grown all over India since very remote times is seen by the fact that it has a name in Sanskrit, as well as in every one of the other Indian languages.

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