Category: Maize

According to statistics, it has been proven that Nigeria for example produces approximately 8million metric tonnes of maize per year. Maize is one of the most versatile emerging crops having wider conditions. Globally, maize is known as queen of cereals because it has the highest genetic yield potential among the cereals. It is cultivated on nearly 150m ha in about 160 countries having wider diversity of soil, climate, biodiversity and management practices that contributes 36% (782MT) in the global grain production. Soils Maize can be grown successfully in variety of…

Maize, also known as Corn is one of the most useful cereal crop in West Africa, foods made out of maize is very nutritious as it is an important source of carbohydrate, protein, iron, vitamin B, and minerals, and is known to digest very quickly. Most Africans tend to consume maize mainly as a starchy base in a wide variety of porridge, pastes, grits, and beer. The Green freshly harvested maize cob is eaten either roasted or boiled. In many Western countries like the USA, maize is used mainly for…

A new study explains why biological control of the western corn root-worm has not been efficient The western corn rootworm continues to be on the rise in Europe. Why attempts to biologically target this crop pest by applying entomopathogenic nematodes have failed, can now be explained by the amazing defense strategy of this insect. In their new study, scientists from the University of Bern, Switzerland, and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, show that the rootworm larvae are able to sequester plant defense compounds from maize…