Corn

Description

Maize and cornmeal (ground dried maize) constitute a staple food in many regions of the world. Maize is central to Mexican food. Virtually every dish in Mexican cuisine uses maize. In the form of grain or cornmeal, maize is the main ingredient of tortillas, tamales, pozole, atole and all the dishes based on them, like tacos, quesadillas, chilaquiles, enchiladas, tostadas and many more. In Mexico even a fungus of maize, known as huitlacoche is considered a delicacy. Introduced into Africa by the Portuguese in the 16th century, maize has become Africa's most important staple food crop.[96] Maize meal is made into a thick porridge in many cultures: from the polenta of Italy, the angu of Brazil, the mămăligă of Romania, to cornmeal mush in the US (and hominy grits in the South) or the food called mealie pap in South Africa and sadza, nshima and ugali in other parts of Africa.

Features

Maize is the world’s most important feed grain because of its high nutritive value and good agronomic features.
Maize can produce more energy per acre than any other cereal grain due to its C4 photosynthetic pathway. The C4 plants have a tropical origin and are inherently more productive than plants with C3 pathway.
Maize is also unique among grains in having the male and female flower organs separately on same plant, which allowed development of high yielding maize varieties.