Seeds pressed with honey are made into cakes in Ethiopia, and the press-cake from oil extraction is used for livestock feed. Whole plants are used as green manure in the pre-flowering stage. Seed is commonly used as food for cage birds. Plants are used as a 'bee plant'. Folk Medicine Oil of the seeds is used in rheumatism.
Roots contain several polyacetylenic compounds.
Germplasm Reported from the African Center of Diversity, niger or cvs thereof is reported to tolerate disease, grazing, insects, laterites, poor soil, and slope. Distribution Niger is extensively grown in S. India and Ethiopia, and to a limited extent in the West Indies, East Africa, and in various parts of India. Niger is adapted to tropical and temperate regions, said to require moderate rainfall not exceeding 10 dm per year. It is adapted to a wide range of soils, from sandy to heavy, growth being poor on light sandy or gravelly soils. In East Africa it is grown at altitudes up to 2,500 m, but will give satisfactory yields at lower altitudes.