Download or read book Maize and Grace written by James C. McCann and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2007-09-15 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sometime around 1500 AD, an African farmer planted a maize seed imported from the New World. That act set in motion the remarkable saga of one of the world’s most influential crops—one that would transform the future of Africa and of the Atlantic world. Africa’s experience with maize is distinctive but also instructive from a global perspective: experts predict that by 2020 maize will become the world’s most cultivated crop. James C. McCann moves easily from the village level to the continental scale, from the medieval to the modern, as he explains the science of maize production and explores how the crop has imprinted itself on Africa’s agrarian and urban landscapes. Today, maize accounts for more than half the calories people consume in many African countries. During the twentieth century, a tidal wave of maize engulfed the continent, and supplanted Africa’s own historical grain crops—sorghum, millet, and rice. In the metamorphosis of maize from an exotic visitor into a quintessentially African crop, in its transformation from vegetable to grain, and from curiosity to staple, lies a revealing story of cultural adaptation. As it unfolds, we see how this sixteenth-century stranger has become indispensable to Africa’s fields, storehouses, and diets, and has embedded itself in Africa’s political, economic, and social relations. The recent spread of maize has been alarmingly fast, with implications largely overlooked by the media and policymakers. McCann’s compelling history offers insight into the profound influence of a single crop on African culture, health, technological innovation, and the future of the world’s food supply.

Download or read book Endangered Maize written by Helen Anne Curry and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2022-01-25 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charting the political, social, and environmental history of efforts to conserve crop diversity. Many people worry that we're losing genetic diversity in the foods we eat. Over the past century, crop varieties standardized for industrial agriculture have increasingly dominated farm fields. Concerned about what this transition means for the future of food, scientists, farmers, and eaters have sought to protect fruits, grains, and vegetables they consider endangered. They have organized high-tech genebanks and heritage seed swaps. They have combed fields for ancient landraces and sought farmers growing Indigenous varieties. Behind this widespread concern for the loss of plant diversity lies another extinction narrative that concerns the survival of farmers themselves, a story that is often obscured by urgent calls to collect and preserve. Endangered Maize draws on the rich history of corn in Mexico and the United States to uncover this hidden narrative and show how it shaped the conservation strategies adopted by scientists, states, and citizens. In Endangered Maize, historian Helen Anne Curry investigates more than a hundred years of agriculture and conservation practices to understand the tasks that farmers and researchers have considered essential to maintaining crop diversity. Through the contours of efforts to preserve diversity in one of the world's most important crops, Curry reveals how those who sought to protect native, traditional, and heritage crops forged their methods around the expectation that social, political, and economic transformations would eliminate diverse communities and cultures. In this fascinating study of how cultural narratives shape science, Curry argues for new understandings of endangerment and alternative strategies to protect and preserve crop diversity.

Download or read book Midwest Maize written by Cynthia Clampitt and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2015-02-28 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Food historian Cynthia Clampitt pens the epic story of what happened when Mesoamerican farmers bred a nondescript grass into a staff of life so prolific, so protean, that it represents nothing less than one of humankind's greatest achievements. Blending history with expert reportage, she traces the disparate threads that have woven corn into the fabric of our diet, politics, economy, science, and cuisine. At the same time she explores its future as a source of energy and the foundation of seemingly limitless green technologies. The result is a bourbon-to-biofuels portrait of the astonishing plant that sustains the world.

Download or read book Maize Cobs and Cultures History of Zea mays L written by John Staller and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-12-02 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our perceptions and conceptions regarding the roles and importance of maize to ancient economies is largely a product of scientific research on the plant itself, developed for the most part out of botanical research, and its recent role as one of the most important economic staples in the world. Anthropological research in the early part of the last century based largely upon the historical particularistic approach of the Boasian tradition provided the first evidence that challenged the assumptions about the economic importance of maize to sociocultural developments for scholars of prehistory. Subsequent ethnobotanic and archaeological studies showed that the role of maize among Native American cultures was much more complex than just as a food staple. In Maize Cobs and Cultures, John Staller provides a survey of the ethnohistory and the scientific, botanical and biological research of maize, complemented by reviews on the ethnobotanic, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary methodologies.

Download or read book Mutants of Maize written by M. Gerald Neuffer and published by CSHL Press. This book was released on 1997-01-01 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique work of reference provides quick and easy access to the remarkable diversity of mutant phenotypes expressed by the maize plant. Its major portion consists of over 400 color photographs of well-established mutants arranged by chromosome position, detailed descriptions of the mutants' gene loci, and a current summary of the physical structure of genes that have been characterized at the molecular level. First published in 1968 and long out of print, Mutants of Maizehas been entirely revised by three of the corn plant's most distinguished investigators, enlarged to cover twice the number of mutants, and redesigned with clarity and elegance. All maize biologists will want this magnificent book in their personal library. In addition, because mutant maize genes have counterparts in most species, the book can be considered a general guide to the consequences of mutation in the entire plant kingdom. All maize biologists will want this magnificent book in their personal library. In addition, because mutant maize genes have counterparts in most species, the book can be considered a general guide to the consequences of mutation in the entire plant kingdom.

Download or read book Maize written by Duccio Bonavia and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-05-13 with total page 605 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines one of the thorniest problems of ancient American archaeology: the origins and domestication of maize. Using a variety of scientific techniques, Duccio Bonavia explores the development of maize, its adaptation to varying climates and its fundamental role in ancient American cultures. An appendix (by Alexander Grobman) provides the first-ever comprehensive compilation of maize genetic data, correlating this data with the archaeological evidence presented throughout the book. This book provides a unique interpretation of questions of dating and evolution, supported by extensive data, following the spread of maize from South to North America and eventually to Europe and beyond.

Download or read book The Maize Handbook written by Michael Freeling and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-06-29 with total page 776 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Maize Handbook represents the collective efforts of the maize research community to enumerate the key steps of standard procedures and to disseminate these protocols for the common good. Although the material in this volume is drawn from experience with maize, many of the procedures, protocols, and descriptions are applicable to other higher plants, particularly to other grasses. The power and resolution of experiments with maize depend on the wide range of specialized genetic techniques and marked stocks; these materials are available today as the culmination of nearly 100 years of genetic research. A major goal of this volume is to introduce this genetical legacy and to highlight current stock construction programs that will soon benefit our work, e. g. high-density RFLP maps, deletion stocks, etc. Both stock construction and maintenance are relatively straightforward in maize as a result of the ease of crossing and the longevity of stored seeds. Crossing is facilitated by the separate staminate (tassel) and pistillate (ear) flowers, a feature almost unique to maize. On the other hand, many of the genetic methodologies utilized with maize, including the precision of record keeping, can be adapted to other plants. Facile communication and a spirit of co-operation have characterized the maize genetics community since its earliest days. Starting in the 1930s, institutions such as annual Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter, the Maize Genetics Stock Center, and the annual maize genetics meeting provide continuity to the field.

Download or read book Maize for the Gods written by Michael Blake and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2015-08-28 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Maize is the worldÕs most productive food and industrial crop, grown in more than 160 countries and on every continent except Antarctica. If by some catastrophe maize were to disappear from our food supply chain, vast numbers of people would starve and global economies would rapidly collapse. How did we come to be so dependent on this one plant? Maize for the Gods brings together new research by archaeologists, archaeobotanists, plant geneticists, and a host of other specialists to explore the complex ways that this single plant and the peoples who domesticated it came to be inextricably entangled with one another over the past nine millennia. Tracing maize from its first appearance and domestication in ancient campsites and settlements in Mexico to its intercontinental journey through most of North and South America, this history also tells the story of the artistic creativity, technological prowess, and social, political, and economic resilience of AmericaÕs first peoples.

Download or read book The Maize Genome written by Jeffrey Bennetzen and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-11-24 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses advances in our understanding of the structure and function of the maize genome since publication of the original B73 reference genome in 2009, and the progress in translating this knowledge into basic biology and trait improvement. Maize is an extremely important crop, providing a large proportion of the world’s human caloric intake and animal feed, and serving as a model species for basic and applied research. The exceptionally high level of genetic diversity within maize presents opportunities and challenges in all aspects of maize genetics, from sequencing and genotyping to linking genotypes to phenotypes. Topics covered in this timely book range from (i) genome sequencing and genotyping techniques, (ii) genome features such as centromeres and epigenetic regulation, (iii) tools and resources available for trait genomics, to (iv) applications of allele mining and genomics-assisted breeding. This book is a valuable resource for researchers and students interested in maize genetics and genomics.

Download or read book Corn Meets Maize written by Lauren Baker and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2013 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This compelling book exploresthe intimate connections between people and plants, agriculture and cooking, and the practical work of building local food networks and transnational social movements. Lauren E. Baker uses corn and maize to consider central debates about food security and food sovereignty, biodiversity and biotechnology, culture and nature, as well as globalization and local responses, in Mexico and beyond. For the author, corn symbolizes the commoditization of agriculture and the cultural, spiritual, ecological and economic separation of people from growing, cooking, and sharing food. Conversely, maize represents emerging food movements that address contemporary health, environmental, and economic imperatives while rooted in agricultural and culinary traditions. The meeting of corn and maize reveals the challenge of, and possibilities for, reclaiming food from its commodity status in the global context of financial turmoil, food crises, and climate change.

Download or read book The Struggle for Maize written by Elizabeth Fitting and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2010-12-31 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argues that maize biodiversity in central and southern Mexico is threatened as much by rural out-migration as by the flow of genes from genetically modified to local corn varieties.

Download or read book Maize Nutrition Dynamics and Novel Uses written by Dharam Paul Chaudhary and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-12-03 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Maize is a globally important crop mainly utilized as feed, food and raw material for diverse industrial applications. Among cereals, it occupies third place after rice and wheat and is a staple food for a large segment of population worldwide particularly in the Asian as well as African countries. This monogram discusses various aspects of nutritional quality of maize such as quality protein maize which has been considered as most significant discovery in enhancing nutritional quality of cereals in terms of increasing the concentration of essential amino acids. The biochemistry of starch which is an important industrial product of maize has been discussed in detail. Further, the role of maize oil which is highly regarded for human consumption as it reduces the blood cholesterol concentration has also been elaborated. Naturally, maize is a rich source of carotenoids such as beta-carotene, zeaxanthin, lutein, cryptoxanthin which have highly diverse health benefits ranging from maintaining normal vision to lowering of oxidative stress. The need for biofortification of maize for provitamin A carotenoids and their role in alleviating vision impairments have also been discussed. The effect of various biotic and abiotic stresses particularly carbon dioxide and temperature on quality has been discussed thoroughly. Many value-added products as well as fermented foods that have been produced from maize which is consumed in different forms worldwide are also discussed. The aspects related to the maize application as fodder and as a source of malting have also been covered concisely. Overall, the book provides complete information about various quality aspects of maize. The various stakeholders such as maize researchers, extension specialists, students, teachers as well as farmers will be immensely benefitted from this monogram.

Download or read book Maize Crop written by A. Solaimalai and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2020-05-10 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Maize is one of the versatile emerging crops with wider adaptability under varied agro-climatic 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 150 m/ha in about 160 countries having wider diversity of soil, climate, biodiversity and management practices that contributes 36 % (782 m/t) in the global grain production. The United States of America (USA) is the largest producer of maize contributes nearly 35 % of the total production in the world. It is the driver of the US economy. This book talks about the improvement, production, protection and post harvest technology of the maize crop. Note: T& F does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Download or read book Maize Diseases written by Denis C. McGee and published by American Phytopathological Society. This book was released on 1988 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A database on all diseases of maize (corn) caused by fungi, bacteria, mycoplasmas, spiroplasmas, and viruses.

Download or read book Maize Agroecosystem written by K. R. Krishna and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2012-07-19 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Maize is among the most widely spread and widely used crops of the world, used for cereals for over 4 billion humans, as food for farm animals, and as a source material for biofuel production. Yet there are relatively few books on the cropping system of this important crop. This book, Maize Agroecosystem, is a concise treatise dealing with agronomy, soil fertility, and productivity of maize. The information is global in nature and considers recent developments in all maize cropping belts. The "global maize agroecosystem" is a conglomerate of several "maize cropping belts" that flourish on different continents. The impact of nutrient management on the productivity of maize agroecosystems is the main focus of this book. The book includes the history of maize growing, the kinds of soil needed, nutrient dynamics, the use of soil organic matter, the physiology and genetics of maize, and integrated nutrient management. It presents comprehensive knowledge regarding the physicochemical dynamics of the three major nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Also covered is how fertilizers impinge on soils of maize farms and their impact on soil and groundwater quality. The impact of crop genotype on soil nutrient dynamics and productivity is also highlighted. The information provided here will be highly useful to students at colleges and universities in the fields of agricultural sciences and environmental science and ecology, and the book also functions as valuable resource for researchers and professors in crop science. Several figures and tables are included that describe and summarize the impact of various agronomic/fertilizer management procedures on crop productivity.

Download or read book Of Marshes and Maize written by Bruce B. Huckell and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While it was once believed that agriculture and pottery developed concurrently in prehistoric societies, modern research has concluded that agriculture preceded pottery making, since a sedentary life with greater food production led to both the need and time to create storage containers. Bruce Huckell has been at the forefront of a movement in Arizona archaeology that has greatly modified our understanding of the transition from the Archaic to the agricultural periods in the Southwest. Work done by Huckell and others at Matty Canyon has produced the most detailed account available of a Late Archaic village and has been extremely influential in suggesting that the cultivation of maize predated the appearance of pottery. Of Marshes and Maize presents archaeological information obtained from small-scale investigations at two deeply buried preceramic sites in the Cienega Creek Basin. Its report on excavations at the Donaldson Site and at Los Ojitos offers a thorough description of archaeological features and artifacts, floral and faunal remains, and their geological and chronological contexts. From this data, the author concludes that a major shift toward a sedentary lifeway dependent on maize agriculture had already occurred by Late Archaic times (c. 500 to 800 B.C.), demonstrating that previous research on late preceramic sites in this region has provided an inadequate picture of the period. This monograph represents the first full presentation in the literature of an important set of data that is well-known among researchers but has thus far not been easily accessible. It is a classic example of the use of fragmentary evidence in well-dated contexts to introduce new ideas, and will stand not only as an important record of the evidence but also as the primary reference for this significant new interpretation of the late Archaic and the introduction of agriculture into the Southwest.

Download or read book Maize written by Jose C. Jiménez-López and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Maize (Zea mays L.) commonly called corn, field corn, or Indian corn belongs to the Poaceae (Gramineae) family. It grows almost anywhere, although approximately 50% of the world's maize is produced in the USA. It is one of the 3 major grain crops world-wide and extremely important for human and animal consumption (15 to 56% of total daily dietary caloric intake), food processing and other commercial activities in many developed and developing countries. This book aims to provide an up-to-date knowledge of recent developments in maize cultivation; the improvement of maize nutritional values to be used in food preparation and human consumption; and maize health benefits provided by the use of alternative maize varieties. The authors expect this book will provide a compendium of valuable knowledge for anyone interested in agricultural, environmental and food sciences.