Agricultural Uses
Corn, a native of the American continents, is a member of the grass family. It was called maize by the native Indians, and is botanically known as Zeu mays.
Although the ancestry of corn is being debated, today's corn is commonly believed to be the descendant of a Mexican wild grass called teosinte, Zea mexicam. Teosinte had ears on many stalks that dispersed the seeds easily. Teosinte over the years probably mutated to form the less adaptive corn of today.
The corn plant grows to around 2 meters and bears separate staminate inflorescence (which are the tassels on the stalk) and pistillate inflorescence (which gives rise to the ear of corn). The ear, containing the kernels, is tightly covered with a husk or bract, making it difficult for the seeds to disperse.
According to the nature and composition of starch in the endosperm, corn can be of various types, such as sweet corn, popcorn, flour corn, etc.
The corn plant grows on all soils, except very clayey or very sandy soils. It cannot tolerate waterlogging and is moderately sensitive to salinity. Corn grows best in temperate to tropical climates, with daily average temperatures above 20°C.
Corn contains large amounts of carbohydrate but low amounts of proteins. It is used as animal feed and as an ingredient of many processed foods and industrial products. They include corn starch, corn flour, corn oil and syrup, laundry starch, glues, etc.
