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Wednesday, 29 July 2015

Ethnobotany of millet cultivation in the north of the Iberian Peninsula

, Volume 24, Issue 4, pp 541-554
Date: 15 Feb 2015


Abstract

Having found Setaria italica (foxtail millet) and Panicum miliaceum (broomcorn millet) still being cultivated traditionally in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, we carried out ethnographic interviews with farmers to help us document an agricultural process on the verge of extinction. Crop processing of S. italica and P. miliaceum varies depending on the use of either plant. In Asturias, Setaria italica is harvested while green and used as fodder. In Galicia and in the north of Portugal, P. miliaceum grain is used mainly for human consumption. This distribution of millet in the north of the Iberian Peninsula appears to have been the case in prehistory too, although this will need to be confirmed by future research.