By Rituraj Khound
The U.S. High Plains region often experiences low winter precipitation, impacting its crop productivity. Extensive climate analyses indicate that years with significant precipitation deficits, including dry winters, amplify drought severity. As this season’s winter has brought negligible snow thus far, the risk of severe or even extreme drought could be seen in western Nebraska.
“This calls for amplified efforts to adopt water-use-efficient alternative crops that can buffer major crops during drier years or in the event of crop failure,” said Rituraj Khound, UNL post-doctoral research associate at the Panhandle Research, Extension and Education Center (PREEC) in Scottsbluff.
Khound has been researching proso millet, also known as hog millet or millet, which is recognized for its ability to efficiently utilize moisture to produce a considerable yield. Compared to corn and winter wheat, proso millet can produce grain with considerably less water, making it well-suited to water-limited environments. Proso millet’s short growing season allows for more flexible planting windows. Studies show that replacing summer fallow with proso millet significantly improves winter wheat yield.
“Owing to its remarkable agronomic attributes, proso millet has been integral to dryland cropping systems in the High Plains, particularly in eastern Colorado, western Nebraska, and South Dakota,” Khound said.
Source : unl.edu