Proso Millet 'Dove'

65 to 75 days — 'Dove' is an early maturing cultivar of proso millet. In fertile soil with ample moisture, it grows upright with very little tillering, and reaches about four feet in height. Its leaves are pale-green in color. As a forage crop, it is stemmy rather than leafy, producing seeds that are light straw color borne on large, very drooping panicles.

Although proso millets are one of the oldest cultivated cereal crops and used as food around the world, it is primarily grown in the United States as animal forage and fodder, as well as commercially for its seeds. As its name implies, 'Dove' proso is attractive to mourning doves and planted by wildlife managers for conservation purposes. Some biologists have reported that bobwhite quail are also attracted to it.

Beginning with seed originally sent to the USDA in 1951 by Pandit Ramdott Chilkoti of Almora Providence India, 'Dove' proso millet was developed by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service's Jimmy Carter Plant Materials Center in Americus, Georgia and introduced in 1972.

For best results sow seeds in the Spring, after all danger of frost has passed, in well drained soils. Seed may be broadcast sown if soil remains damp, or otherwise sow one-quarter to one-half of an inch deep in the soil. USDA accession number PI 196292. Each ounce contains about 4500 seeds.