Phytolith analysis for differentiating between broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) and its weed/feral type (Panicum ruderale)

Domestication of broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum) is one of the most significant events in prehistoric East Asia, providing sufficient food supply for the explosive growth of Neolithic populations and the transition into complex societies. However, to date, the process of broomcorn millet domestication is still largely unknown, partly due to the lack of clear diagnostic tools for distinguishing between millet and its related wild grasses in archaeological samples. Here, we examined the percentage of silicified epidermal long-cell undulated patterns in the glume and palea from inflorescence bracts in 21 modern varieties of broomcorn millet and 12 weed/feral-type Panicum ruderale collected across northern China. Our results show that the percentage of ηIII patterns in domesticated broomcorn millet (23.0% ± 5.9%; n = 63) is about 10% higher than in P. ruderale (10.8% ± 5.8%; n = 36), with quartiles of 17.2–28.3% and 5.1–15.5%, respectively. Owing to the increase in ηIII pattern percentage correlates significantly with a decrease in the grain length/width ratio, in the absence of exact wild ancestors of broomcorn millet, the characterization of phytolith differences between P. ruderale and P. miliaceum thus becomes an alternative approach to provide insight into origin of broomcorn millet.