What is Corn
Corn (scientific name: Zea Mays) is also called in some areas as Maize, indian corn or broomcorn. It is an annual grass. Annual due to the fact that corn has to be reseeded annually.
Corn ranks with wheat and rice as one of the world's chief cereal crops. It is chiefly grown as livestock fodder.
Description
The maize plant has an erect, solid stem, rather than the hollow one of most other grasses. It varies widely in height, some dwarf varieties being little more than 60 cm (2 ft) tall at maturity, whereas other types may reach heights of 6 m (20 ft) or more. The average is 2.4 m (8 ft). The leaves, which grow alternately, are long and narrow. The main stalk terminates in a staminate (male) inflorescence, or tassel. The tassel is made up of many small flowers termed spikelets, and each spikelet bears three small anthers, which produce the pollen grains, or male gametes. The pistillate (female) inflorescence, or ear, is a unique structure with up to 1,000 seeds borne on a hard core called the cob. The ear is enclosed in modified leaves called husks. The individual silk fibres that protrude from the tip of the ear are the elongated styles, each attached to an individual ovary. Pollen from the tassels is carried by the wind and falls onto the silk, where it germinates and grows down through the silk until it reaches the ovary. Each fertilized ovary grows and develops into a kernel.
Kinds of Corn
Dent Corn- It is the most widely grown corn in the United States. It is used Chiefly for livestock feed. Dent corn gets its name from the dent that forms on the top of the kernel.
Flint Corn- It is the 2nd most widely grown corn. it has a smooth outer covering and the kernels come in white to deep red.
Flour Corn- It is one of the oldest corn varieties. the kernels are mostly white, but there are blue, yellow, orange, red and black kernels. the kernels are soft so it can easily be crushed into flour.
Sweet Corn- Corn on the cob is usually made of this variety. this is the sweetest corn and is harvested before it matures, where it is at its sweetest.
Popcorn- This variety is also very old. This is made into a highly popular snack also called popcorn. The kernels are very hard. when popcorn is heated the moist endosperm produces steam and so the kernel pops.
Pod Corn- It is the most primitive and possibly the oldest form of corn. Each kernel is enclosed in a pod. This corn has no commercial value and is grown entirely for research purposes.
Corn Pests
Maize is attacked by a number of plant parasites and insect pests. An important group of fungi attacks the roots, stalks, and ears, causing rots that reduce yield and damage grain quality. Corn smut is caused by a parasitic fungus that produces a large mycelial mass at various places on the plant (ear, stalk, tassel). As it matures a mass of black spores develops. In some parts of Central and South America, the fresh, unsporulated smut galls, or swellings, are used as food. Maize is also attacked by several fungi that form lesions on the leaves that result in reduction of grain yield. Two important virus diseases, maize dwarf mosaic and stunt, both transmitted by leafhoppers, attack the maize plant. If the virus is transmitted to maize at an early stage, yield reduction can be serious. The corn earworm, also called cotton bollworm, feeds on the kernels within the husk. The European corn borer mainly attacks the stems of the plants. In recent years the corn rootworm has caused serious losses. These small larvae of cucumber beetles feed on the root system of the developing plants.
Production and Consumption
World output of maize in the early 1990s stood at more than 469 million tonnes annually; in volume of production, maize ranked third behind wheat and rice. A net gain of about 11 per cent in production was realized during the 1980s; intensive cultivation with heavy use of fertilizers and herbicides was responsible for the increase. The United States is the leading maize-growing country, with more than 40 per cent of the world's production. Most of its crop is grown in the Midwestern region known as the Corn Belt, comprising the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. The other leading maize-growing nations are China, Brazil, and Mexico.
Although maize is grown for human consumption, large amounts are used for livestock, either fed directly to pigs, cattle, and poultry, or used in mixed feeds. The remainder is used for the production of alcohol and distilled spirits, syrups, sugar, cornflour, and dry-processed foods.
Corncobs are an important source of furfural, a liquid used in manufacturing nylon fibres and phenol-formaldehyde plastics, refining wood resin, making lubricating oils from petroleum, and purifying butadiene in the production of synthetic rubber. Ground corncobs are used as a soft-grit abrasive. Large, whole cobs from a special type of maize, "cob pipe" maize, are used for pipes for smoking tobacco. Corn oil, extracted from the germ of the corn kernel, is used as a cooking and salad oil and, in solidified form, as margarine; it is also used in the manufacture of paints, soaps, and linoleum. The search for alternative sources of energy has brought attention to maize as a fuel source. High in sugar content, maize is processed to produce alcohol for use with petrol as gasohol, and the dry stalk is a potentially important fuel biomass.
Go to the History of Corn
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