Pearl Millet
Category: Millets
Pearl Millet is a cereal crop. Its biological name is Pennisetum glaucum. Millet in India is called as ‘Bajra’. It grows in arid and semi-arid tropical regions of the world. Millet is cultivated in India and Africa. Millet is one of the primary sources of dietary energy. It gives nutritional security to poor farmers and consumers.
Pearl millet is adapted to many growing areas distinguished by drought, low soil fertility, and high temperature. It also grows well in high salinity and low pH soil. It can tolerate difficult growing conditions and can be cultivated well.
India is the largest producer of pearl millet. It is mainly grown in Rajasthan as it needs moderate amounts of water and is gluten free.
Description
Pearl Millet is high in proteins, calcium, folic acid and fat. It has essential compounds like phytic acid and niacin. It is a good source of fiber. Millet is rich in minerals like phosphorus and zinc and has a high starch content. It is famous for its high iron content. These can be easily seen if you take about 100g of millet. 100 gm of millets has 10.6g of proteins, 16g of iron, 1.3g of fiber, 2.3g of minerals. It has 378 calories. It gives about 73% of carbohydrates and 0.4g of fats. It favorably provides 0.8% of calcium, 37.5% of copper, 28.5% of magnesium, 81.6% of manganese, 28.5% of phosphorus and 5.57% of potassium. So, we can say It has various vitamin contents as Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate and Pantothenic acid. It also has minerals like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, sodium, zinc, manganese, copper and selenium.
