A tall cereal grass and one of the most important dryland grain crops of the West African savanna.
Pearl millet (Pennisetum typhoides, now usually called Cenchrus americanus or Pennisetum glaucum, family Poaceae) is a vigorous, upright, freely tillering annual grass 0.5 to 4 metres tall, with an extremely dense root system and leaves up to 1 metre long. It was first domesticated in the Sahel between about 3,000 and 2,000 BC from the wild Pennisetum violaceum, and it is probably native to the western Sahel. It is now grown for its grain throughout the tropics and subtropics and is a staple for more than 100 million people, especially in parts of Africa and India that are too hot, dry and sandy for sorghum. It suits regions with a short growing season.
It is the most drought resistant of all cereals. It grows from sea level to 1,800 metres, best at mean temperatures of 25 to 35°C with 400 to 900 mm of rain a year, and it needs a light, well-drained soil in sun; its large root system lets it succeed on dry, infertile and acid soils, and once established it tolerates some salinity. Early varieties ripen in 60 to 95 days and late ones in 100 to 120 days or more. It is harvested by hand, by picking the heads or cutting whole plants. Grain yields in Africa are usually 0.25 to 1 tonne per hectare, though 3 to 5 tonnes are possible under good conditions. Seed germinates best at 33 to 35°C, not at all below 12°C, and dry, insect-free seed keeps for several years.
Source: Useful Tropical Plants database (Fern, K.).
Grain is pounded or milled into flour for porridge (tuwo), pap, and flatbreads — a dry-season staple.
Highly drought- and heat-tolerant; grown on poor sandy soils where other cereals fail.