Maize crop: The most famous Kharif crop

July 16, 2020 [email protected] 0 Comments cultural practices of maize, maize crop, maize cultivation, orizin of maize crops

Origin of Maize crop-

Mexico is the native of maize crop. But the main centre of origin of maize is to be the Central America and Mexico.

Some Vernacular names of Maize-

Bengali = Bhutta
Gujarati = Makai
Hindi = Makka
Marathi = Makka
Oriya = Makka
Kannada = Musikinu jola
Kashmiri = Makaay
Malayalam = Cholam
Tamil = Makka Cholam
Telugu = Mokka jonnalu

Geographical Distribution-

Maize crop is the common crop that is cultivated all over the world (From 58°N latitude to 40°S latitude) after Rice and Wheat. Maize is cultivated over 139 million ha of area of world and approx 600 million tonnes maize is produced every year.

Some Top countries that cultivated Maize –

USA,
China,
Brazil,
Mexico,
India,
Romania,
Philippines,
Indonesia

In India, Top States that cultivated maize –

Rajasthan,
UP,
MP,
Bihar,
Karnataka,
Gujarat,
AP,
J&K,
HP and
Maharashtra

Economic Importance of Maize-

Maize is commonly crop that is cultivated in any corner of the world. So it is easy to find and use.
Maize crop is also used as food for Human and Fodder for Animals.
Maize is full of Starch, such that It contains 65% of Starch and 35% other constituents.
Maize is also used in Milling Purpose. There are two types of Milling Process that is, Wet milling and second is Dry Milling. Wet milling Produces Industrial Starches but Dry milling Produces animal feed, brewing, breakfast cereals, other food. In India, dry milling is the predominant over the wet milling Process because of large production of flour and animal feed.
Maize is also used as an alternate crop to rice and wheat.

Consumption of maize –

By Human = 35% Production of maize
By Poultry and cattle Feed = 25% Production of maize
By Food Processing = 15% Production of maize

Types of Maize crops-

Dent corn (Zea mays indentata)
Flour corn (Zea mays amylacea)
Waxy corn (Zea mays ceretina)
Sweet corn (Zea mays saccharata)
Flint corn (Zea mays indurate)
Pop corn (Zea mays everta)

Soil requirement for Maize-

clayey soil

More fertile, medium textured with good water holding capacity, rich in organic matter and well drained soils are the most suitable for cultivation of Maize crops. While maize crops are grown on different varieties of soil, such as Loamy, Clayey loam, clayey soil and so on. Loamy, silty loam soil and silty clay loam soil are the Ideal soil type for cultivation of Maize crops. And those soils are also considered as Ideal for good cultivation of maize crop which have pH value of between 6.5 and 7.5.

Climatic Condition for Maize-

Maize requires 9 to 30°C from planting to emergence, for increase in leaf number with Photo period. Maximum rate of maize growth is at 30°C. Longer the grain filling period, higher the grain yield. The maize is very sensitive to water logging capacity so it is mainly grown during rainy season. Higher the solar radiation may increase the rate of Photosynthesis in Maize.

Season-

Maize crops are basically grown in three seasons, that is-

Adipattam (july to August)
Purattasipattam (September to October)
Thaipattam (January to February)

Variety-

Some Important Varieties of Maize crops that are cultivated on fields are

CO 1, COH (M) 4, COH (M) 5, COBC 1 (Baby corn)

Cultural Practices of Maize crops-

Field preparation for maize-

Plough the field with disc plough and chisel plough used with cultivator ploughing twice time, after spreading FYM or a compost.

Uses of FYM or compost in the field-

supply 12.5 t/ha of FYM or a compost on the un ploughed field with 10 packets of Azospirillum.

Uses of fertilizers-

Apply NPK as per soil test. Apply recommendation of 60:30:30 NPK kg/ha for Alfisols and 40:20:0 NPK kg/ha for Vertisols.
Top dress remaining half of N at tasseling.
Apply half of N and full dose of P2O5 and K2O with FYM.

Spacing-

Row to Row = 45 cm
Plants to Plants = 20 cm

Seed rate-

20 to 25 kg/ha

Sowing depth-

4 cm

Treatment of Seed-

Seeds treated with fungicides with three packets (600 g/ha) of Azospirillum.

Yield of maize-

maize crop ready — maize ready for harvesting

About 3 tonnes of grain yield can be obtained under rainfed situation.
5 tonnes of grain yield and 10 tonnes/ha of straw yield can be obtained under irrigated situation.

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