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Maize
Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native Americans planted it alongside beans and squashes in the Three Sisters polyculture. The leafy stalk of the plant gives rise to male inflorescences or tassels which produce pollen, and female inflorescences called ears. The ears yield grain, known as kernels or seeds. In modern commercial varieties, these are usually yellow or white; other varieties can be of many colors. Maize relies on humans for its propagation. Since the Columbian exchange, it has become a staple food in many parts of the world, with the total production of maize surpassing that of wheat and rice. Much maize is used for animal feed, whether as grain or as the whole plant, which can either be baled or made into the more palatable silage. Sugar-rich varieties called sw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Three Sisters (agriculture)
The Three Sisters () are the three main agricultural crops of various indigenous people of Central and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North America: Cucurbita, squash, maize ("corn"), and climbing Bean, beans (typically Phaseolus acutifolius, tepary beans or Phaseolus vulgaris, common beans). In a technique known as companion planting, the maize and beans are often planted together in mounds formed by hilling soil around the base of the plants each year; squash is typically planted between the mounds. The cornstalk serves as a Trellis (architecture), trellis for climbing beans, the beans Nitrogen fixation#Root nodule symbioses, fix nitrogen in their root nodules and stabilize the maize in high winds, and the wide leaves of the squash plant shade the ground, keeping the soil moist and helping prevent the establishment of Weed, weeds. Indigenous peoples throughout North America cultivated different varieties of the Three Sisters, adapted to varying local environments. The ind ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
