Table of Contents
What is maize description?
Maize, Zea mays, is an annual grass in the family Poaceae and is a staple food crop grown all over the world. The ear of the maize is a modified spike and there may be 1–3 per plant. The maize grains, or ‘kernels’, are encased in husks and total 30–1000 per ear. The kernels can be white, yellow, red, purple or black.
What is the importance of maize?
Maize or corn (Zea mays L.) is an important cereal crop of the world. It is a source of nutrition as well as phytochemical compounds. Phytochemicals play an important role in preventing chronic diseases. It contains various major phytochemicals such as carotenoids, phenolic compounds, and phytosterols.
What is the characteristics of corn?
The corn plant is a tall annual grass with a stout, erect, solid stem. The large narrow leaves have wavy margins and are spaced alternately on opposite sides of the stem. Staminate (male) flowers are borne on the tassel terminating the main axis of the stem.
Which kind of plant is maize?
Maize (Zea mays L.) Maize is the most produced cereal crop in the world and the most adapted to different ecosystems. Ancient Mesoamerican farmers started to select and manipulate teosinte (Zea mexicana) and in a couple of centuries transformed this native grass into several pre-Columbian maize races.
What is maize cultivation?
Maize is widely cultivated throughout the world, and a greater weight of maize is produced each year than any other grain. In 2014, total world production was 1.04 billion tonnes. Maize is the most widely grown grain crop throughout the Americas, with 361 million metric tons grown in the United States alone in 2014.
What is maize economic importance?
Maize has been the most important field crop in the RSA throughout the past three decades. On average it has yielded over 15 per cent of the gross value of all agricultural products and covered about 40 per cent of the cultivated area.
What is the scientific name of maize?
Zea mays subsp. mays
Maize/Scientific names
Corn—also known as maize, goes by the scientific name Zea mays subsp. mays, and is a part of the grass family or Poaceae.
Is maize gold or yellow?
The shade maize or corn refers to a specific tone of yellow; it is named for the cereal of the same name—maize (the cereal maize is called corn in the Americas).
Which is the best description of a maize plant?
Description of a Maize Plant (With Diagram) Maize or Indian corn (Fig. 221) is a stout annual plant cultivated for the grains during the rainy season. It forms a staple food in some parts of India. Roots are of fibrous adventitious type. Primary root aborts after germination, and is replaced by fibrous adventitious ones from the base of stem.
How many species of maize are there in the world?
Maize is an annual grass in the family Gramineae, which includes such plants as wheat, rye, barley, rice, sorghum, and sugarcane. There are two major species of the genus Zea (out of six total): Zea mays (maize) and Zea diploperennis, which is a perennial type of teosinte.
What do the silks of a maize look like?
The silks are the elongated stigmas that look like tufts of hair initially and later turn green or purple in color. Each of the female spikelets encloses two fertile florets, one of whose ovaries will mature into a maize kernel once sexually fertilized by wind-blown pollen.
What foods are eaten from the cob of maize?
Maize and cornmeal (dried, ground maize) are staple foods in countries all over the world. The ears can be cooked and eaten from the cob as a vegetable or the kernels can be removed and either eaten as is or used to produce a wide variety of foodstuffs including cereals and flour.