Maize
Zea mays
Corn, Mealies, Indian Corn, American Corn
Mais, Blé de Turquie, Turquet (French); Kukuruz, Turkischer, Weizen (German)
Milho (Portuguese); Mijo Turquesco, Maíz, Zara, Trigo de Turquía (Spanish)
Makka, Makai, Butta (Hindi); Mahindi (Kiswahili); Jawar{i} (Pashtu and Dari)
Ufun, Elbo (Tigrinha), Boqqoolloo (Oromifa), Bokkollo (Amharic); Epungu
(Angola)
Maize is one of the three major cereals in the world, together with rice and wheat.
About half of the global crop is produced in North America; China is the second
largest producer, then Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. Global production in 2004 was
721 million MT (FAO estimate).
In nutritional terms, maize grain is mainly useful as a source of carbohydrate and
energy. 100 g of whole maize grain (at 12% mc) contains on average 362 calories,
even less nutritious.
Although it is not a reliable crop for regions with limited or erratic rainfall,
where sorghum or millet normally grows better, in good rainfall areas or under
irrigation maize has a greater yield potential than any other cereal. Despite the
unreliability of maize in low rainfall areas it is often planted by farmers who accept
the risk of producing only a small yield, for two reasons: the green cobs help to fill
the “hungry gap”, and they prefer the taste and cooking qualities of maize to
sorghum or millet (ie quality is rated higher than quantity).
Plant breeders have selected and developed maize varieties that can adapt to
almost any environmental conditions. Some maize plants are 70 cm tall and mature
in 50 days, others are 4 m tall and need more than a year to mature. This wide range
of different plant and grain types is grouped into seven main types according to the
nature of their endosperm; there are also several intermediate types, the “Semi-
Flints”, etc.
Dent (Horse-tooth) Maize
Zea mays var. identata. Large grains, normally yellow or white, with soft white
starch which shrinks on drying to produce the characteristic “dent” at the end of
each grain. This type has the biggest yield potential and is the most widely grown.
Flint Maize
Zea mays var. indurata. Compared to dent maize, they are usually earlier to mature,
their grain is rounded and without the dent ie hard endosperm only. The growing
plant is more likely to produce tillers, which is not a good habit because maize
normally only produces grain cobs on the main central stem. On the other hand they
are better adapted than dent types to growing in difficult conditions.
Soft (Flour) Maize
Zea mays var. amylacea. Grown in the drier parts of Western South America, North
America and South Africa. The grain colour is very varied, and more rounded than
dented. Soft endosperm.
71 g carbohydrate, 10% protein and 4.5% fat. Immature grain (“corn on the cob”) is