Maize: History, Cultivation and Uses

In this article we will discuss about:- 1. History of Maize 2. Cultivation and Harvesting of Maize 3. Uses.

History of Maize:

It is now universally admitted that Maize or Indian com is a native of America. This species probably originated in a wild state in the tropical South America. In Andes its cultivation goes back to prehistoric time. It has been established by evidence that the plant must have been grown for many centuries prior to the period of the Inca civilization.

The maize was grown by the Indians in new Mexico as early as 2000 B.C. De Candolle on this subject writes— “No one denies that maize was unknown in Europe at the time of Roman Empire but it has been said that it was brought from the east in the Middle ages”.

The various names which it bears in Europe, Egypt and Asia only show that in each country it was supposed to come from some not very distant region. Thus it is Turkish-wheat, Indian Corn, Roman Corn, Sicilian Com, Barbary and Guinea Com, etc.

The Turks call it Egyptian Corn and the Egyptians speak of it as Syrian grain. Its most general name in India may be rendered Mecca Com (Makkai). However, there is no authentic Sanskrit name for the plant, nor is the grain in any way associated with the Hindus.

Crawfurd also writes, — “Maize is, beyond all question, a native of America, and before the discovery of the New World was wholly unknown to the old.” Royle says that the Portuguese very probably introduced the richest products of America into India, such as maize, capsicum, guava, custard-apple and pine­apple.

Abul Fazl writes in Ain-i-Akbari about kewarah, where he says that its leaves are like those of “maize”. Rox-burgh wrote about the beginning of last (nineteenth) century, that Indian-Corn was “cultivated in various parts of India in gardens, and only as a delicacy; but not anywhere on the continent of India, so far as I can learn, as an extensive crop.”

Buchanan-Hamilton (1819) wrote about Kangra—”The poor people live much on Maize”. Graham (1839) wrote about Western India that maize was commonly cultivated.

Dalzell and Gibson (1861) wrote that maize was extensively grown in the early part of the rains, especially near large towns. It is thus very probably that in the Upper India maize was much more extensively grown at the beginning of the last (nineteenth) century. It is a field crop upon which at least the bulk of the aboriginal tribes of the hilly tracts of India are very largely dependent for subsistence.

According to De Candolle, the Maize was brought to China after the discovery of America (1492). The Portuguese came to Java in 1496, that is to say four years after the discovery of America and to China in 1516, Magellan’s voyage from South America to Philippines took place in 1520.

It is thought, that the seeds of maize may have been taken to China by navigators from America or from Europe. Maize had reached Europe a short time before the dates mentioned for India and China. Dodoens (1583), Camerarius (1588) and Matthiole, adopted the name Mays, which they knew to be American.

Conclusively this can be said that Maize was first introduced into Europe by Columbus, and into Asia by the earlier Portuguese explorers. Maize had acclimatized wherever the climate permitted, and has now spread all over the world.

Maize also known as ‘Indian corn’ or simply as ‘corn’, is a food crop of considerable importance in many parts of the world, especially in the U.S.A., which produces nearly 57 per cent or the total maize grown in the world as compared to about 1.4 per cent produced in India.

The other important maize producing countries are—China (4.4 per cent), the Russia (3.3 per cent), Manchuria (2.9 per cent), Yugoslavia (2.4 per cent) and Mexico (2.3 per cent).

A tall annual cultivated grass; it has been introduced in this country from tropical America about the beginning of the seventeenth century. The area under this crop measures 9.6 million acres with an annual total production of three million tons. Maize is mainly grown as ‘kharif crop’. Although it is grown throughout India, the chief concentration is in the north-eastern parts.

The crop is of special importance in the hilly and submontane regions where it makes the staple food of people. It is grown as a food crop mainly in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir.

Cultivation and Harvesting of Maize:

Maize is a summer annual. It thrives best in fertile, well irrigated, medium, heavy loamy soil. It is also commonly grown in the coarse gravel soils of hilly tracts. In India the crop is generally sown in June-July and harvested in September-October. The maize stems are cut close to the ground with the help of com knife or sickle.

The stalks are stacked to allow the grain to ripe further. After a month of this curing process, the ears (cobs) are husked by hand or by machine. Maize must be stored in well ventilated bins so that the excess of moisture is evaporated.

The table shows that maize contains all the essential nutrients of food when compared to Wheat and other food-grains.

Uses of Maize:

The chief use is as a food for man and livestock. The grain is very nutritious, with a high percentage of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Not only is the grain valuable as a stock feed, but the plant as a whole is an important fodder crop. The immature cobs are largely eaten after roasting.

The grains are also used in making com starch and industrial alcohol. The glucose is also manufactured from the grain. The com oil is prepared which is used for soap making, lubrication and as salad oil. Com flakes make a good breakfast food.

The fibres in the stalks are utilized for making paper and yarn. Zein, the protein which occurs in maize grain, is utilized for making artificial fibres with good tensile strength and wool-like qualities.

It is of special importance in the hilly and sub-montane regions of the country where it forms the staple diet of the people, particularly in the winter months. In the northern parts, it is also extensively grown as a fodder.

Other Uses:

However, due to low gluten content, it does not form dough with elastic properties, but dough with good elastic properties can be made from flour made from dehulled grain. Maize starch is extensively used as a sizing material in the textiles and paper industries. In the food industry it is used in the preparation of pies, puddings, salad dressings and confections.

Maize starch is used for the production of dextrose and com syrup; also employed as a diluent for pharmaceutical preparations, dusting material to prevent articles like surgeons gloves, from sticking together, ingredient of oil-well drilling muds, and as a depressant in ore-floatation process.

In cosmetics, maize starch form an ingredient of various forms of toilet powders. Dried germs yield a semi-drying oil, known as maize oil or com oil used as salad or cooking oil; it may also be used with linseed oil for paints. Zein, recovered from maize gluten used as a binder for cork particles in forming composition cork.

A textile fibre has been produced from zein under the trade name Vicara, it combines the virtues of cotton and wool. Cobs are rich in pentosans and used for furfural production. They may also be used for making building-boards which are water and fire-resistant. Maize silk (styles) is astringent, diuretic and chloretic. Some of the maize products include dextrose, maize starch, syrup, com flakes and popcorns.