Plant Name: Echinochloa colona (L.) Link
Common name:
Marathi: Borod, bhagar, Vari cha Tandul
Hindi: Mordhan, Sava ka chawal
English: Barnyard millet
Jawhar: Vari cha Tandul
Interesting facts and history
It closely mimics rice in the vegetative growth stage and is a severe competitor of rice.
It is a host of diseases such as tungro and rice yellow dwarf.
Identification guide
General
Culms 10-80 cm high, erect; nodes glabrous
Stem
green, ascending to erect, without hairs.
Leaves
Leaves 3-25 x 0.2-0.7 cm, linear-lanceolate, rounded or shallowly cordate at base, apex acuminate; sheaths keeled; ligules absent. Panicles 3-15 cm long, spiciform; racemes 4-10, each 1-3 cm long.
Spikelets
Spikelets 2-4 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, greenish-yellow or purplish. Lower glume 1-2 x 1-1.5 mm, ovate, acuminate, chartaceous, 5-nerved, hispid. Upper glume 2-4 x 1.5-2 mm, ovate or boat-shaped, acuminate, chartaceous, hispid. Lower floret barren. Upper floret bisexual. First lemma 2-4 x 1.5-2 mm, ovate, 7-nerved. Palea c. 2 x 1 mm, ovate-oblong, hyaline, 2-keeled. Second lemma 2-3 x 1 mm, ovate-elliptic. Palea 1.5-2 x 1 mm, ovate-oblong, mucronate, 2-keeled. Stamens 3; anthers c. 0.5 mm long, violet. Ovary c. 0.5 mm, oblong; stigmas pink
Habit / Habitat
It is a herb, usually grow as wild grass in and around the bunds of paddy fields and marshy areas.
Occurrence
1) Availability of the plant species in India: Maharashtra and Karnataka along the paddy fields. Its origin is probably in eastern India.
2) Global distribution: It occurs throughout tropical Asia and Africa in fields and along roadsides. It is naturalized in North America.
Edible parts
World wide use Seeds
Used by tribal community in Jawhar Seeds
Method of consumption
Jawhar tribal
Seeds are used in the preparation of sweets.
Other Recipe
- Samo Khichdi Servings– 2
Ingredients:
Ghee/Oil - 1 tbsp, Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 5-6 leaves, Green Chili - 1 finely chopped
Ginger - 1 tsp grated, Tomato - 1 small finely chopped
Potato - 1 chopped, Salt as per taste
Chili powder - 1 tsp, Moraiyo/Samo - 1 cup
Butter milk - 2 cup, For Garnishing Fried or Roasted Peanuts and Coriander
Method
o Wash samo with water and soak it for 15 mins in sufficient water.
o Heat the oil in a pan, add cumin seeds and curry leaves.
o Add green chili, ginger, tomato and potato. Add salt and chili powder and saute well.
o Remove the extra water from soaked samo and add it to the pan.
o Add butter milk and cover the lid of pan.
o Cook untill samo cooked well. It will take around 10 mins. Stir in between and add more water if required. It will get the texture of 'sooji upma'.
o Once cooked serve in serving plate and garnish with friend peanuts and coriander.
o Serve hot with curd.
Nutritional and medicinal information
Nutritive Significance:
Nutrition Facts: Samo Rice (100 gm uncooked)
Calories = 171 Kcal
Sodium 10 mg
Vitamin A* 2%
Total Carbs 36 g
Vitamin C* 1%
Dietary Fiber 2 g
Protein 3 g
Total Fat 1 g
Calcium 5%
Iron 10%
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Pharmaceutical significance
None
Harvesting and preserving
The crop should be harvested when it is ripe. It is cut from the ground level with the help of sickles and stacked in the field for about a week before threshing.
Millet can be stored with husk but prior to its processing or consumption the husk must be removed.
Propagation and Storage
Season of collection
Flowering and fruiting: Throughout the year
How to grow it?
It is propagated by seeds, having a short dormancy period1. Prefers moist but unflooded conditions and is a problem mainly in upland and rainfed lowland rice fields rather than in flooded fields.
Method of storage
Seeds/Millets
Other uses
It can be used as a palatable fodder for milking animals and water buffalo.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Spermatophyta
Sub-division: Angiospermae
Class: Monocotyledonae
Series: Glumaceae
Family: Graminae
Genus: Echinochloa
Species: colona
References
1 http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/agriculture/millets_kudiraivali.html
2 "Echinochloa colona". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
3 https://www.seedtest.org/upload/cms/user/ULfactsheetEchinochloacolona.pdf
4 http://www.ezcookbook.net/2012/07/moraiyosamo-khichdi-fasting-recipe.html
5 http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/samvat-rice-kheer-recipe-vrat-ki-kheer/
6 http://www.ijser.org/researchpaper%5CEthnobotanical-Usages-of-Grasses-in-Central-Punjab-Pakistan.pdf
7 http://indiabiodiversity.org/species/show/229599/?max=8&offset=0&classification=265799&taxon=38863&view=grid
8 http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/samo-rice-also-known-as-jungle-rice-echinochloa-colona-228926370