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		SCIENTIFIC NAME Zea mays L. COMMON NAMES English: Maize (American English: corn); German: Mais; Maíz; French: Maïs
Maize kernels	Young Maize plant

Young Maize plants	Sweetcorn

TAXONOMY

FAMILY

Poaceae (syn. Gramineae).
Besides corn (Z. mays), the genus Zea includes its wild relatives, the teosintes, and a few other species. Traditionally it has been put - together with the related genus Tripsacum - into the tribe Maydeae, because all of these species share the trait of being monoecious (i.e. not having hermaphroditic, but rather separate male and female flowers) in contrast to most other grasses. This classification has since been revised, however, and they are now members of the tribe Andropogoneae within the subfamily Panicoideae, which also includes the economically important grasses Sorghum sp. and Saccharum sp. (sugar cane).

OCCURRENCE

AGRICULTURAL IMPORTANCE

In recent decades, maize production has soared. In the 1970s, about 266 million tonnes per year were grown on 115 million hectares (287.5 million acres) worldwide, whereas in 2007, nearly 800 million metric tons of maize were harvested from about 160 million hectares (400 million acres) of land. Most of this (40%) was in the USA, where it is quantitatively the most important crop, followed by China and the EU. In poorer regions of the world, a large proportion of the harvest is used for human consumption, whereas in the industrialized countries, most of the crop (e.g. 80% in the USA) is fed to livestock, primarily in the form of silage. This usage has probably contributed to the expansion of maize cultivation into regions with temperate climates. Another factor has certainly been the great progress in breeding, which has produced high-yielding hybrid varieties that are well-adapted to a wide range of climatic conditions.

CULTIVATION

Maize grows best on well-drained loamy soils with ample organic matter. It requires consistently adequate soil moisture to prevent wilting. Drought will significantly reduce yields, especially if it occurs during the silking and tasseling periods. The above-mentioned rise in the productivity of maize cultivation is partly achieved through an increased plant density. In the first half of the 20th century, the kernels were generally sown in hills that were sometimes up to 1 m (39.37 inches) apart. New, earlier-maturing varieties and the use of fertilizer have brought the possibility of a more than doubling of the number of plants per hectare in the meantime. Even so, maize covers the soil much less than other cereals. Therefore, weed control is very important, the more so as maize is quite susceptible to competition for nutrients from other plants. Another problem is soil erosion: strong rain can lead to heavy losses of topsoil, even on moderate slopes.

CULTIVATION AREA

Maize is basically a tropical grass, and it requires high insolation and warmth. An average temperature of 20 – 24 °C (68 - 75.2 °F) is optimal, and it should not sink below 14° C (57.2 °F) at night. The minimum for germination is 8°C (46.4 °F). Nevertheless, maize is cultivated on every continent except Antarctica. In the northern part of its range, it is grown mostly for silage, because it can be harvested for this purpose while still unripe.
Depending on variety and local climate, maize may need between 70 and 210 days for full development. Due to the importance of this factor for determining the suitability of available varieties for cultivation in a particular area, these are assigned a maturity rating, which has usually been defined by a so-called FAO-number, a lower number meaning earlier ripening. However, this 3-digit code (ranging from 100 to 900, for maturity group, grading within this group and kernel color) has not been used consistently in different countries in spite of international agreements, and it has even been partly abandoned by now. In areas with only a short warm season (e.g. Central Europe), only varieties with an FAO-number of up to 400 are used, as others would need a longer growth period to reach maturity than is possible before temperatures fall again in the autumn.

SPECIAL INFORMATION

The phylogeny of cultivated corn, Zea mays L., is still controversial. One of the possibilities is that it might have developed from its closest wild relative, the teosinte; from another as yet unknown (or extinct) wild grass species; or as a hybrid between the two. The oldest findings of maize are from the Tehuacán valley in southern Mexico, dated to about 5000 B.C. The word “maize” derives from the Spanish „maíz“ for „maisis“ or „mahisi“, the name in the indigenous Taino language.
The extraordinary productivity of the maize plant – it has the highest potential yield of all cereal crops - is mainly determined by two factors: its large leaf area; and the fact that it is (like many other grasses) a C4-plant - i.e. it uses an alternative pathway for carbon fixation that is more efficient at high temperatures than the more common C3-pathway.
The numerous subspecies of Zea mays are divided into several groups. The economically most significant of these are: dent maize (Z. mays convar. indentata), flint maize (Z. mays convar. indurata) and soft maize (Z. mays convar. amylacea). Popcorn (Z. mays convar. everta), sweet corn (Z. mays convar. saccharata), pod maize (Z. mays convar. tunicata) and waxy maize (Z. mays convar. ceratina) are locally important. Traditional, open-pollinated varieties have nowadays been replaced almost completely by hybrids, mostly of dent and flint maize.
Maize was the first crop in which the heterosis effect was utilised with significant success. Recently, transgenic Maize – for example varieties provided with resistance to herbicides or producing insecticidal bacterial toxins - is gaining in importance, and is profoundly changing crop protection practice.

USE

FOOD

In many regions of the world, maize is still of the utmost importance as a staple food for large parts of the population. In Central and South America, it is used to make almost all of the cereal products that are made from wheat or rye elsewhere.
In industrialized countries, however, maize grown for human nutrition is for the most part consumed in processed form, except for traditional uses such as tortilla, popcorn, 'corn on the cob' or polenta (generally 'dent maize'). About half of the 'corn starch' produced is used in the food industry, most of it converted into sugars. 'Corn syrup' consists mainly of glucose. In recent years, it has been replaced to a considerable extent by 'high fructose corn syrup' (HFCS), which is sweeter than maize syrup because of its fructose content. HFCS is an important sweetener for soft-drinks.
An oil can be extracted from the maize germs that is valued for its cooking properties.

FODDER

While much less maize is eaten by humans nowadays than historically in many places, its use as fodder for livestock has increased significantly.
Therefore, large amounts are consumed indirectly in the form of products such as beef, pork, poultry, eggs and milk. As a rule of thumb, about 25 kg (55 lbs) of maize are needed to produce 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs) of beef. Maize grains are an ideal poultry feed. For pigs, ensilaged maize-cob-mix (MCM) is - besides its nutritional value - suitable primarily because of its fibre content. The most common use of maize as fodder, however, is in the form of silage made from whole plants, which is fed mainly to cattle. In addition, considerable amounts of the by-products from maize processing are used in the animal-feed industry.

FUEL

The current usage of maize as a raw material for the production of ethanol by fermentation has undergone a boom, in response to the demand for biofuel as a renewable energy source.

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS

Maize is not only food for humans and feed for livestock, but also a material for use in several thousand industrial products. 'Corn starch' is used in the textile, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Pulp for paper and similar products is made from the cobs and stalks. A by-product of this process is furfural, a valuable source material for the chemical industry.

CROP MANAGEMENT

RECOMMENDATION FOR INTEGRATED CROP MANAGEMENT

The maize crop’s late sowing and thus late row-closing means that some of the seedbed remains as bare soil, offering ideal conditions for the germination and rapid development of weeds. Furthermore, developing maize is particularly sensitive to any sort of competition that limits its supply of nutrients. Thus it is extremely important to control weeds very effectively, eradicating them completely if possible to protect the harvest. Mechanical removal (hoeing) of weeds has now been widely replaced by more effective herbicidal treatments in most countries.