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What is the shape of the maize?
Seed from a single cob falls into many size/shape categories. Large rounds usually come from the base of the ear, flats from the centre and small flats and small rounds from the tip. Very small seed usually comes from the base or tip of the cob, but will fall outside the weight ranges established by the grading system.
What is the type of maize plant?
The six major types of maize are dent corn, flint corn, pod corn, popcorn, flour corn, and sweet corn.
What is the structure of maize plant?
Endosperm: Maize grain consists of two unequal portions divided by a layer called epithelium. The bigger portion, the endosperm which is yellowish or whitish is the food storage tissue of the grain and is rich in starch. But its outermost layer contains only protein and is called aleurone layer.
What is the shape of the corn seed?
Seed size and shape on a corn ear varies from large rounds (left, cob base), flats (middle of cob), to small rounds (cob tip).
Is the maize plant stem big or small?
The maize stem varies in height from less than 0,6m in some genotypes to more than 5m in others. It is cylindrical, solid and clearly divided into nodes and internodes.
What are characteristics of maize plant?
Botanical features Maize is a tall, determinate, annual C4 plant varying in height from <1 to >4 meters producing large, narrow, opposing leaves, borne alternately along the length of a solid stem.
Does maize plant have flowers?
Maize is a monoecious plant with staminate flowers borne in a tassel and pistillate flowers in ears.
What is the structure of external surface of maize seed?
Answer: The seed coat (testa) of maize grain is bonded to the fruit wall (pericarp). The maize grain is golden in colour and triangular in shape on the outside. A small, opaque, oval, and whitish region on one side of the grain contains the embryo.
What roots do maize plants have?
The root system of maize can be divided into an embryonic root system (Abbe and Stein, 1954) consisting of a single primary root and a variable number of seminal roots, and a post‐embryonic root system which is made up by shoot‐borne roots.
What is the shape of gram seed?
roundGram seeds are round in shape. We can easily identify a scar called hilum. A micropyle can be observed on the gram seed through which the seed imbibes water. The gram seed contains two thick fleshy cotyledons that are foods storage organs.
What shape is a corn cob?
a coneA corn cob, shaped somewhat like a cone, has the radius of its broadest end as 2. 1 cm and length (height) as 20 cm. If each 1 cm2 of the surface of the cob carries an average of four grains, find how many grains (approximately) you would find on the entire cob.
What is the Colour of maize seed?
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 USA and Canada.
Is maize a c3 or C4 plant?
C4 plants—including maize, sugarcane, and sorghum—avoid photorespiration by using another enzyme called PEP during the first step of carbon fixation.
Is maize flowering plant?
Maize is a monoecious plant that produces male flowers on a terminal tassel (Fig. 1A) and female flowers on lateral ears (Fig. 1B), which arise in the axils of vegetative leaves. The tassel initiates several long, indeterminate branches at the base while the ear consists of a single spike with no long branches.
Is maize a dioecious plant?
Maize is a monoecious plant because it bears both male and female flowers on the same plant. The male flowers are present on the top of the plant. The female flowers are halfway down, on the sides of the plant.
Why is maize called a flowering plant?
Maize is an angiosperm or a flowering plant. It has a place where pollen is produced and a place where pollen is received. It has a well-developed root system, and shoot system, and is monocotyledons. It bears flowers of both sexes.
How tall is a maize plant?
Structure and physiology. The maize plant is often 3 m (10 ft) in height, though some natural strains can grow 13 m (43 ft). The stem is commonly composed of 20 internodes of 18 cm (7 in) length. The leaves arise from the nodes, alternately on opposite sides on the stalk.
Where was maize found?
Plant fragments dated to 4200 BC found in the Guilá Naquitz Cave in Oaxaca, Mexico, showed maize had already been domesticated from teosinte. Ancient Mesoamerican engraving, National Museum of Anthropology of Mexico. Maize is a cultigen; human intervention is required for it to propagate.
What is maize used for?
In addition to being consumed directly by humans (often in the form of masa ), maize is also used for corn ethanol, animal feed and other maize products, such as corn starch and corn syrup. The six major types of maize are dent corn, flint corn, pod corn, popcorn, flour corn, and sweet corn.
How much maize was grown in 2014?
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. Genetically modified maize made up 85% of the maize planted in the United States in 2009.
What is the name of the plant that produces seeds?
The leafy stalk of the plant produces pollen inflorescences and separate ovuliferous inflorescences called ears that yield kernels or seeds, which are fruits. Maize has become a staple food in many parts of the world, with the total production of maize surpassing that of wheat or rice.
When was maize first grown?
Around 4,500 ago, maize began to spread to the north; it was first cultivated in what is now the United States at several sites in New Mexico and Arizona, about 4,100 ago.
Did the Spanish eat maize?
After the arrival of Europeans in 1492, Spanish settlers consumed maize, and explorers and traders carried it back to Europe and introduced it to other countries. Spanish settlers far preferred wheat bread to maize, cassava, or potatoes. Maize flour could not be substituted for wheat for communion bread, since in Christian belief only wheat could undergo transubstantiation and be transformed into the body of Christ. Some Spaniards worried that by eating indigenous foods, which they did not consider nutritious, they would weaken and risk turning into Indians. "In the view of Europeans, it was the food they ate, even more than the environment in which they lived, that gave Amerindians and Spaniards both their distinctive physical characteristics and their characteristic personalities." Despite these worries, Spaniards did consume maize. Archeological evidence from Florida sites indicate they cultivated it as well.
Determining seed size: Production
Seed sizes from hybrid production will vary field to field, and year to year due to many factors. These include specific hybrid characteristics, parent tendencies and growing conditions, especially during the pollination and fill period. Seed from a single cob falls into many size/shape categories.
Effect on Emergence & Early Growth
There have been minor differences in emergence noted under adverse planting conditions. Large seed can have slightly decreased emergence rates in dry soil conditions as the amount of moisture needed for germination and emergence is relative to the size of the seed.
Importance of Planter Settings
This is where seed size and shape matters. Planter settings should be adjusted for accurate seed positioning, placement, and the intended population. When set properly for the seed size, a planter can more accurately singulate and deliver the seed.
Summary
Overall, seed size does not affect genetic yield potential. Having a planter set properly can improve your opportunity to achieve an optimal stand by minimising skips, doubles, and triples.
What is the female structure of maize?
In most commercially viable maize genotypes, the female structure (the ear) projects outward from a central stalk, while the male structure (the tassel) projects out the top of the stalk. Pollen from the tassel is carried by the wind to other maize plants, where fertilization of the individual kernels on the ear occurs.
Where did maize originate?
Maize is thought to have originated 55–70 million years ago in what is now Central or South America and has since diversified into nearly 10 000 nondomestic relatives. Figure 1 shows a phylogenetic tree of grass species related to maize.
What is a B maize?
B Maize. Zea mays is an essential staple cereal crop that naturally accumulates provitamin A carotenoids in the endosperm of the seed. There are vast diverse collections from which to source favourable alleles for plant breeding programmes.
How does Zea mays reproduce?
Maize plants contain both male and female reproductive structures and reproduce by both cross-pollination and self-pollination. In most commercially viable maize genotypes, the female structure (the ear) projects outward from a central stalk, while the male structure (the tassel) projects out the top of the stalk. Pollen from the tassel is carried by the wind to other maize plants, where fertilization of the individual kernels on the ear occurs. The ears of maize may range in size from about 2.5 to over 45 cm long. The kernel size, shape, and color also vary widely.
How many races of maize are there?
The kernel size, shape, and color also vary widely. Although there are hundreds of ‘races’ of maize, most of the commercially grown hybrids emanated from only a few major races. For the purposes of discussing the commercial importance of maize, maize types can be subdivided into four categories not related to race.
What is maize used for?
The grain of maize is used for food, feed, and industrial products including biodegradable foams, plastics, and adhesives. Additionally, maize stover, the leaves and stalk of the maize plant, is used for forage, biofuel production, and chemical production. Figure 1.
Where is dent maize grown?
Dent maize is the primary type of maize grown in the US Corn Belt as well as in Europe, South Africa, and China. Dent varieties have been adapted through hybridization and selection to provide a wide range of agronomic and kernel characteristics. Special dent varieties have been produced with unique starch characteristics. High-amylose (linear starch) and waxy (branched starch) maize genotypes have been grown commercially for many years. Other unique genotypes such as high-oil maize and high-lysine maize are also being produced.
Overview
Origin
Maize is the domesticated variant of teosinte. The two plants have dissimilar appearance, maize having a single tall stalk with multiple leaves and teosinte being a short, bushy plant. The difference between the two is largely controlled by differences in just two genes, called grassy tillers-1 (gt1, A0A317YEZ1) and teosinte branched-1 (tb1, Q93WI2).
History
Maize is a cultigen; human intervention is required for it to propagate. Whether or not the kernels fall off the cob on their own is a key piece of evidence used in archaeology to distinguish domesticated maize from its naturally-propagating teosinte ancestor. Genetic evidence can also be used to determine when various lineages split.
Names
The word maize derives from the Spanish form of the indigenous Taíno word for the plant, mahiz. It is known by other names including "corn" in some English speaking countries.
The word "corn" outside the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand refers to any cereal crop, its meaning understood to vary geographically to refer to the l…
Structure and physiology
The maize plant is often 3 m (10 ft) in height, though some natural strains can grow 13 m (43 ft), and the tallest recorded plant reached 45 feet (14 m). The stem is commonly composed of 20 internodes of 18 cm (7 in) length. The leaves arise from the nodes, alternately on opposite sides on the stalk, and have entire margins.
Genetics
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. The annual teosinte variety called Zea mays mexicana is the closest botanical relative to maize. It still grows in the wild as …
Evolution
As with many plants and animals, Z. mays has a positive correlation between effective population size and the magnitude of selection pressure. Z. m. having an EPS of ~650,000, it clusters with others of about the same EPS, and has 79% of its amino acid sites under selection.
Recombination is a significant source of diversity in Z. mays. (Note that this finding supersedes previous studies which showed no such correlation.)
Breeding
Maize reproduces sexually each year. This randomly selects half the genes from a given plant to propagate to the next generation, meaning that desirable traits found in the crop (like high yield or good nutrition) can be lost in subsequent generations unless certain techniques are used.
Maize breeding in prehistory resulted in large plants producing large ears. Modern breeding began with individuals who selected highly productive varieties in their fields and then sold seed to oth…