In vast swathes of Sub-Saharan Africa, maize is the staple food with consumption of up to 450 g/person/day. Additionally, maize is used as a weaning food for infants as well as for special ...ceremonies, caring for the sick, aged and pregnant women. Malnutrition persists in regions with heavy maize consumption, partly due to compositional maize characteristics, nutrient loss during processing and consumer preferences. This paper reviews the traditional uses and processing of maize, opportunities and necessary improvements to ensure (micro)nutrient security. Better use of maize can enhance its contribution to meeting the dietary needs and livelihood of Africa's growing populace.
Future climate scenarios are predicting considerable threats to sustainable maize production in arid and semi-arid regions. These adverse impacts can be minimized by adopting modern agricultural ...tools to assess and develop successful adaptation practices. A multi-model approach (climate and crop) was used to assess the impacts and uncertainties of climate change on maize crop. An extensive field study was conducted to explore the temporal thermal variations on maize hybrids grown at farmer’s fields for ten sowing dates during two consecutive growing years. Data about phenology, morphology, biomass development, and yield were recorded by adopting standard procedures and protocols. The CSM-CERES, APSIM, and CSM-IXIM-Maize models were calibrated and evaluated. Five GCMs among 29 were selected based on classification into different groups and uncertainty to predict climatic changes in the future. The results predicted that there would be a rise in temperature (1.57–3.29 °C) during the maize growing season in five General Circulation Models (GCMs) by using RCP 8.5 scenarios for the mid-century (2040–2069) as compared with the baseline (1980–2015). The CERES-Maize and APSIM-Maize model showed lower root mean square error values (2.78 and 5.41), higher
d
-index (0.85 and 0.87) along reliable
R
2
(0.89 and 0.89), respectively for days to anthesis and maturity, while the CSM-IXIM-Maize model performed well for growth parameters (leaf area index, total dry matter) and yield with reasonably good statistical indices. The CSM-IXIM-Maize model performed well for all hybrids during both years whereas climate models, NorESM1-M and IPSL-CM5A-MR, showed less uncertain results for climate change impacts. Maize models along GCMs predicted a reduction in yield (8–55%) than baseline. Maize crop may face a high yield decline that could be overcome by modifying the sowing dates and fertilizer (fertigation) and heat and drought-tolerant hybrids.
The demand for maize in Sub-Saharan Africa will triple by 2050 due to rapid population growth, while challenges from climate change will threaten agricultural productivity. Most maize breeding ...programmes have focused on improving agronomic properties and have paid relatively little attention to postharvest qualities, thus missing important opportunities to increase the contribution to food and nutrition security. This paper considers current and potential food uses of maize in Africa and proposes six objectives to enhance the contribution of maize breeding programmes to food and nutrition security: (1) enhance nutrient density; (2) enhance suitability for use in bread and snacks; (3) improve characteristics for consumption as green maize; (4) improve characteristics that enhance the efficiency of local processing; (5) reduce waste by maximising useful product yield and minimising nutrient losses; (6) reduce the anti-nutrient content of grain.
•Maize is staple crop in Sub-Saharan Africa critical to food security.•Preferences for maize differ across Africa, supporting the need for local solutions.•Long-term success in breeding program is achievable through alignment of all value chain actors.•Six clusters of maize breeding objectives were identified.
•A feasible device for maize tassel pose estimation and detasseling is designed.•Detasseling movement of two-claw down-cutting and base rotation reduces the leaf damage.•Feasibility and performance ...of the novel maize detasseling device are verified in field experiments.
An essential task in maize seed production is the removal of male tassels from the maternal plants, thus ensuring the genetic purity of parental forms of hybrid maize. Hand detasseling is highly precise but labor-intensive and costly regarding human resources. Mechanical detasseling offers high efficiency in maize detasseling, but the high leaf damage rate significantly impacts plant performance and seed yield. With the passing of the rural labor force, there is an urgent need for higher precision and lower leaf damage rate detasseling devices to meet the market demand for maize detasseling. Therefore, a novel maize detasseling device was designed and developed in this paper to address these issues. First, a down-cut rotary detasseling method is proposed based on the phenotypic characteristics of maize plants and the principles of hand detasseling, effectively minimizing leaf damage near the maize tassel during the detasseling process. Second, the maize detasseling device was designed according to the detasseling method, which is compact in overall structure and consists of an RGB camera, claw-R device, claw-L device, sliding device, rotating device, etc. Eventually, a maize detasseling device was developed to conduct field detasseling experiments and evaluate the device's effectiveness. Experimental results demonstrate that the detasseling success accuracy, first-leaf damage rate, second-leaf damage rate, and third-leaf damage rate are 88.33 %, 81.13 %, 15.09 %, and 3.77 %, respectively. Furthermore, damage to only the first leaf or no damage to any maize leaf was considered correct successful detasseling. Therefore, the overall process final correct successful detasseling rate is 71.67 %, and the average detasseling time for a single maize is 11.85 s. This study provides the technical support for precise maize detasseling in maize detasseling devices.
This easy-to-use manual is meant to provide maize farmers tips to improve their yields using improved cultivation practices. Specifically, it outlines which cultivars to use for different cropping ...systems, field preparation and crop establishment methods, and efficient weed control and nutrient management for higher productivity.
Agricultural production must increase substantially to meet the increasing per capita demand for food, feed, fuel, and fiber of a rising human census. The amount of arable land is limited due to soil ...type, weather, and ecosystem considerations; therefore, it is necessary to increase yields on current fields. To obtain the greatest maize (Zea mays L.) yield, a farmer needs to nurture the crop as much as possible. Weather and nitrogen availability are well- known as two factors that normally have the greatest influence on maize yields and grain quality. Some management factors a producer may need to consider while growing a maize crop are mineral fertilization, genotype, plant population, and protection from insects and diseases. Additionally, there are numerous biological and chemical compounds that can stimulate plant growth, such as in-furrow mixes and foliar fungicides. Field management also plays a role in final grain yield, including crop rotation, tillage, soil pH and nutrient levels, weed control, and drainage.
This Special Issue Book focuses on weather, soil, and other maize crop management factors and their relative independent and/or interactive influence on maize growth and yield.
•Coupled maize model is a 4D maize growth model based on growing degree days.•Coupled maize model simulates and visualizes maize canopy on multiple levels.•Improved thermal-driven crop growth model ...and plant functional-structural algorithm.•Coupled maize model has high accuracy through multi-seasonal dataset validation.
Crop canopy parameters are critical for environmental remote sensing, describing crop phenotypes, and ensuring food security. Evaluating the effect of temperature on crop growth is crucial for estimating crop canopy parameters. However, existing crop growth and plant functional-structural models cannot simultaneously model temperature responses, perform accurate dynamic simulations, and provide multi-scale computer visualizations. This limitation has hindered the application of structural models of maize plants for use in 3D radiative transfer models, crop structure evaluations, and crop phenotype descriptions. We improve the leaf/organ-level thermal-driven crop growth model (MAIZSIM) and the plant functional-structural algorithm. To address these limitations, we propose the coupled maize model, a four-dimensional (4D) growth model based on growing degree days. This model can simulate and visualize the structural parameters of the maize canopy at the organ, plant, seasonal, and population levels. The model outputs three-dimensional (3D) predictions of the maize structure (file format.obj), enabling editing and 3D visualizations. We use maize datasets from multiple phenological periods to test the proposed model’s accuracy and stability in simulating the canopy parameters at multiple levels. The results show that the normalized root mean square errors (NRMSEs) between the simulated and measured maize leaf size, area, leaf node height, and vein curve derived from the coupled maize model are below 0.1, demonstrating the model's high accuracy.
To overcome the limited surface area of starch and improve the adsorption capacity of starch, porous starch has been widely produced in various fields. In this study, the different enzyme activities ...of α-amylase (AM), glucoamylase (GAM), and mixed enzyme (ME) were used to prepare different types of porous maize starch, and the microstructure, particle morphology, adsorption, and gelatinization characteristics of the porous starch were studied. Scanning electron microscopy showed porous structures with diverse pore size distribution and pore area depending on the enzyme type and its activities; AM produced the largest holes, GAM produced the deepest holes, and ME produced large and deep holes. Adsorptive capacity was significantly affected by enzymatic modification being greater influenced by GAM. The porous starches had higher relative crystallinity as deduced from X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The MA-treated starch had higher solubility whereas swelling capacity, peak viscosity, final viscosity, breakdown, and setback of both treatments were decreased compared to the native starch. The results indicate porous maize starch can provide different functions according to the action pattern of enzymes. The type of enzyme and its enzyme activity can be used to produce the ideal cavity and pore size starch granules, which expands its application scope.
Display omitted
•Porous starches were obtained by α-amylase (AM) and glucoamylase (GAM).•The range of pore diameters of AM treatment was wider than that of GAM.•AM and GAM increased the specific surface area of maize starch.
•A multiplex RT-PCR assay for MCMV, SCMV, MaYMV and MATV was developed for the early field detection of co-infections of these viruses in maize.•The detection limits of the multiplex RT-PCR assay for ...MaYMV and MCMV were 100 pg of cDNA template and those for MATV and SCMV were 1 ng cDNA template.•To validate the reliability of this multiplex RT-PCR assay, 138 maize samples from China were tested using this method and both single and co-infections were detected.
Maize lethal necrosis disease (MLND) is a serious disease of worldwide importance. It is caused by the co-infection of maize with maize chlorotic mottle virus (MCMV) and a potyvirus, such as sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV), that acts synergistically to produce more severe symptoms and production losses. More recently, maize yellow mosaic virus (MaYMV) and maize-associated totivirus (MATV) were found to co-infect with MCMV and SCMV in maize plants. To facilitate the detection of these viruses in co-infected maize, a multiplex RT-PCR assay was developed in this study. The assay used five specific primer pairs and simultaneously amplified these four viruses as well as the elongation factor 1α (EF 1α) gene use as internal control in one tube. The concentration of the primers, annealing temperature, annealing time, extension time and amplification cycles were optimized for the multiplex RT-PCR. The detection limit of the assay was up to 100 pg of total cDNA template. This multiplex RT-PCR assay was shown to be a sensitive and effective tool for the screening of field samples for the presence of these viruses in co-infected maize.
► Ethanol production from maize has increased price of grain and changed diets for livestock, especially ruminants. ► Byproducts from the ethanol industry have effectively replaced maize grain in ...ruminant diets. ► Reduced supply and increased price of maize grain for livestock feeding has increased use of maize silage and maize residues.
Maize production in the U.S. was about 316 million metric tons in 2010. That amount is expected to increase in the future due to greater yields/hectare and more hectares planted. From 1950 until 2006 the supply of maize grain was much greater than demand. Government programs supplemented farmers, enabling them to produce abundant amounts of maize grain at low prices. The low prices of maize grain encouraged feeding large amounts to livestock and poultry. As late as 2000, 60% of maize grain produced was fed to livestock and poultry. The development of the fuel ethanol industry has changed both the price of maize grain and the usage by livestock and poultry. In 2010 only 42.9% of U.S. maize grain was fed to livestock and poultry while 41.8% was used for fuel ethanol production, and 11.2% for food. There are two byproducts from fuel ethanol production that replace some of the maize grain, especially in cattle production—distillers grains and maize gluten feed. Both of these byproducts are very well utilized by cattle. Depending upon plant production logistics, distillers grains has 110–140% the feeding value of the maize grain replaced and maize gluten feed has 100–110% the feeding value of maize grain. Values are less for lactating dairy cows but both byproducts serve as excellent protein sources. Byproducts replace 35–45% of the maize grain used to produce fuel ethanol. Essentially all of the cattle in the U.S. are “finished” on diets containing 80–85% concentrates. In the past the concentrates were comprised primarily of maize grain but now are a mixture of maize and byproducts. In the US the forage part of the corn plant is utilized in three ways. Some is harvested as whole plant maize silage. The silage is used as both an energy source and a roughage source in feedlot diets. Maize silage is also used to “background” cattle. This term is used to describe a growing phase based on forages prior to cattle being placed on “finishing” diets. The second use of maize forage (referred to as residue) is residue harvest after grain harvest and fed as a roughage source in finishing diets or mixed with wet byproducts and fed as an energy source to “background” cattle or beef cows. The other use of the maize “residue” is through grazing after grain harvest. Beef cows or backgrounding calves are placed on the maize fields after grain harvest where they select the higher quality forage components and any residual grain left in the field after harvest. Residual grain in residue is of high quality and selected first by the cattle. The husk is palatable and highly digested while the leaf is palatable but not as digestible. Quality of the diet declines with time of grazing because the higher quality parts are selected first. Generally, about 15% of the residue is consumed leaving 85% for erosion control and soil organic matter. Under this system beef cows need little supplementation while growing calves need supplementation of both protein and energy to yield economical growth.
PDF
