Related topics: crops

Researchers document the first use of maize in Mesoamerica

Almost any grocery store is filled with products made from corn, also known as maize, in every aisle: fresh corn, canned corn, corn cereal, taco shells, tortilla chips, popcorn, corn sweeteners in hundreds of products, corn ...

The tips of a plant design its whole shape

Plants grow throughout their entire life. This is due to a small structure at the tip of the plant's shoots known as the meristem. This is the control center for the maintenance of stem cells—which can be converted into ...

How corn's ancient ancestor swipes left on crossbreeding

Determining how one species becomes distinct from another has been a subject of fascination dating back to Charles Darwin. New research led by Carnegie's Matthew Evans and published in Nature Communications elucidates the ...

Synchronizing food production can have disastrous effects

Crop failures are an important cause of food price spikes, conflict and food insecurity. The likelihood of local crop failures being catastrophic at the global level is exacerbated when they happen at the same time —that ...

Protecting small farms in Mozambique from drought

During the months that Jonathan Malacarne spent traveling from village to village in rural Mozambique, the weather could be dry and dusty or soaking wet from heavy rain. Either way, people from the community would walk and ...

Scientists identify a novel target for corn straw utilization

Plant cell walls, as repositories of fixed carbon, are an important source of biomass, which is mainly composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. However, the complex lignin structure makes it a rather inefficient ...

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