**3. Minor cereals**

#### **3.1 Barley (Bangla: Jab;** *Hordeum vulgare* **L.)**

Barley, one of the oldest cereal crops, ranked fourth among grains behind maize, rice, and wheat. It is widely grown in marginally productive soils across the world points to the high adaptability of the genus *Hordeum* to edaphic stresses [19]. In Bangladesh, barley is a minor cereal crop grown in the small area of two Upazilas (sub-district), *viz*. Chowhali and Tarash, of Sirajganj district [20]. In 1971–1972, the coverage and total productions were only 28,700 ha and 21,300 t, respectively which decreased to 297 ha and produced 244 t in 2018 (**Figure 4**). The BARI has released 9 barley cultivars (**Table 8**), and 54 accessions of barley germplasm are also conserved at the PGRC [18]. The only barley-based cropping

*Cereal Grains of Bangladesh – Present Status, Constraints and Prospects DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97072*

#### **Figure 4.**

*Area coverage and production trend of barley. T ha thousand hectare; t t thousand metric ton. Source: FAOSTAT 2020 http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC.*


*Source: Azad et al. [17].*

#### **Table 8.**

*Modern barley cultivars developed by Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute.*

pattern in Bangladesh was Barley−Fallow−Fallow, which occupied 0.0002% of the net cropped area [7].

#### **3.2 Sorghum (Bangla: Jowar;** *Sorghum bicolor* **(L.) Moench)**

Sorghum, one of the most drought-resistant crops that originated in equatorial Africa, grown for grain, fodder, fiber and/or biofuel, is the world's fifth-most important cereal crop after rice, wheat, maize, and barley with 57.89 m t of annual global production in 2019 <http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC>. In 1971–1972, the coverage and total productions were 1032 ha and 745 t, respectively which decreased to only 73 ha and produced 87 t in 2018 (**Figure 5**). The only recommended sorghum cultivar available in Bangladesh is BARI Jowar-1, the PGRC (BARI) has collected and conserved 268 sorghum accessions [21].

#### **Figure 5.**

*Area coverage and production trend of sorghum. Source: FAOSTAT 2020 http://www.fao.org/faostat/ en/#data/QC.*

#### **3.3 Pearl millet (Bangla: Bajra;** *Pennisetum glaucum* **(L.) R.Br.)**

Pearl millet, one of the earliest domesticated millets [2], is well-adapted to poor, droughty, and infertile soils and is, therefore, a vital subsistence crop in countries surrounding the Sahara Desert and in western Africa where soils are tough and rainfall is low <www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni. org:names:77105978-1>. In 2007–8, the coverage and total production of pearl millet


#### **Table 9.**

*Area coverage and production trend of some minor cereals.*

in Bangladesh were only 26.72 ha and 35 t, respectively which increased to 28.7 ha and produced 38 t in 2018 (**Table 9**). However, it went completely out of cultivation in the subsequent year [4]. Only two accessions of pearl millet germplasm are conserved at the PGRC, BARI [18].
