Botanical Name, Importance and Economic Use of Rabi Jowar
Local Name : Jondhla
Family : Gramineae
Botanical Name : Sorghum Bicolor
Origin : India and Africa
Importance of Sorghum:
1. Jowar is a staple food of very large population of India.
2. It provides good quality fodder (Kadbi) for the livestock.
3. It can with stand drought condition and extreme heat.
4. It can tolerate soil salinity and water-logging up to some extent.
5. Hybrid varieties gives more yield compared to other cereals.
6. It can be grown on variety of soils and climate.
7. It provides raw material to starch, alcohol industry etc.
8. In M.S. it contributes 50% of the total cereal production.
9. Jowar is known as great millet because of larger size grains and having vast area under it.
Economic Uses:
1. Jowar is a staple food of Maharashtra.
2. It is ground into flour and eaten in the form of Bhakri,
3. It is cooked like rice and eaten know as Ghoogrya.
4. Earheads of some sweet varieties at milk stage are baked on fire and eaten as Hurda.
5. The grains are also used for manufacturing pop-grain, starch, glucose, malt etc.
6. The dry stalks with leaves called Kadbi are fed to cattle as fodder.
7. Some varieties are specially grown for fodder which is fed to cattle green stage.