Dent corn, also known as grain corn, is a type of field corn with a high soft

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets ...

content. It received its name because of the small indentation, or "dent", at the crown of each

kernel Kernel may refer to: Computing * Kernel (operating system), the central component of most operating systems * Kernel (image processing), a matrix used for image convolution * Compute kernel, in GPGPU programming * Kernel method, in machine lea ...

on a ripe ear of corn. Reid's Yellow Dent is a variety developed by central Illinois farmer James L. Reid. Reid and his father, Robert Reid, moved from

Brown County, Ohio Brown County is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 43,676. The county seat is Georgetown. The county was created in 1818 and is named for Major General Jacob Brown, an officer in the ...

Tazewell County, Illinois Tazewell County () is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 135,394. Its county seat and largest city is Pekin. It is pronounced with a short "a", to rhyme with "razz" rather than "raze." ...

in 1846 bringing with them a red corn variety known as "Johnny Hopkins", and crossed it with varieties of

flint corn Flint corn (''Zea mays'' var. ''indurata''; also known as Indian corn or sometimes calico corn) is a variant of maize, the same species as common corn. Because each kernel has a hard outer layer to protect the soft endosperm, it is likened to bei ...

and flour corn. Most of today's hybrid corn varieties and cultivars are derived from it. This variety won a prize at the

1893 World's Fair The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, he ...

. Most of the corn grown in the United States today is yellow dent corn or a closely related variety derived from it. Dent corn is the variety used in food manufacturing as the base ingredient for cornmeal flour (used in the baking of

cornbread Cornbread is a quick bread made with cornmeal, associated with the cuisine of the Southern United States, with origins in Native American cuisine. It is an example of batter bread. Dumplings and pancakes made with finely ground cornmeal are s ...

), corn chips,

tortilla A tortilla (, ) is a thin, circular unleavened flatbread originally made from maize hominy meal, and now also from wheat flour. The Aztecs and other Nahuatl speakers called tortillas ''tlaxcalli'' (). First made by the indigenous peoples of M ...

s, and

taco shell A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican food consisting of a small hand-sized corn- or wheat-based tortilla topped with a filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and eaten by hand. A taco can be made with a variety of filling ...

s. Starch derived from this high-starch content variety is turned into

plastics Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

, as well as

fructose Fructose, or fruit sugar, is a ketonic simple sugar found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide sucrose. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and galactose, that are absorb ...

which is used as a sweetener (

high-fructose corn syrup High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), also known as glucose–fructose, isoglucose and glucose–fructose syrup, is a sweetener made from corn starch. As in the production of conventional corn syrup, the starch is broken down into glucose by en ...

) in many processed foods and soft drinks. The six major types of corn are dent corn,

pod corn Pod corn or wild maize is a variety of maize. It is not a wild ancestor of maize but rather a mutant that forms leaves around each kernel. Pod corn (''tunicata'' Sturt) is not grown commercially, but it is preserved in some localities. Pod corn ...

popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated; the same names also refer to the foodstuff produced by the expansion. A popcorn kernel's strong hull contains the se ...

, flour corn, and

sweet corn Sweet corn (''Zea mays'' convar. ''saccharata'' var. ''rugosa''), also called sugar corn and pole corn, is a variety of maize grown for human consumption with a high sugar content. Sweet corn is the result of a naturally occurring recessive m ...

Taxonomy

* ''Zea mays'' var. ''indentata'', synonym ''Zea indentata'' Sturtev., was identified and published by American agronomist and botanist Edward Lewis Sturtevant (1842–1898). It is categorized as a species within the family Poaceae, subfamily Panicoideae, and tribe Andropogoneae—a tribe of grasses that use the NADP–malic enzyme subtype of C₄ photosynthesis in

carbon fixation Biological carbon fixation or сarbon assimilation is the process by which inorganic carbon (particularly in the form of carbon dioxide) is converted to organic compounds by living organisms. The compounds are then used to store energy and as ...

Description

Dent corn (''Zea mays'' var. ''indentata'') is a fast-growing, vertically erect, short-lived annual plant and similar to many other varieties of ''Zea mays''.Hannaway, David B., and Larson, Christina. Oregon State University
Corn (Zea mays L.)
. Retrieved 5 December 2013. More commonly grown to a height of 2–3 meters (6–9 feet), ''Zea mays'' typically grows with a single, hollow main stem often called a stalk (or culm) which exhibits internodes that are cylindrical in the upper part and alternately grooved in the lower part with a bud in the groove. One or occasionally two lateral branches emerge from the leaf axils in the upper part of the plant. The leaves of ''Zea mays'' alternate with broad, sword-shaped leaf blades, parallel veins with a prominent mid-rib, and small

ligule A ligule (from "strap", variant of ''lingula'', from ''lingua'' "tongue") is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf and leafstalk of many Poaceae, grasses (Poaceae) and Cyperaceae, sedges. A ligule is also a strap-shaped extension of the corolla ...

s. The plant has an

adventitious Important structures in plant development are buds, shoots, roots, leaves, and flowers; plants produce these tissues and structures throughout their life from meristems located at the tips of organs, or between mature tissues. Thus, a living pla ...

, dense, fibrous root system that develops aerial roots at nodes near the soil surface. The flowers of ''Zea mays'' are

monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system alongside gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy. Monoecy i ...

and are born in separate parts of the plant. The female flower, or ear, is an

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed ...

that develops from

axillary bud The axillary bud (or lateral bud) is an embryonic or organogenic shoot located in the axil of a leaf. Each bud has the potential to form shoots, and may be specialized in producing either vegetative shoots (stems and branches) or reproductive ...

apices several nodes below the stem apex. The male flower, or tassel, develops from the stem apex. Anthers on the tassel dehisce and release

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametop ...

, which is dispersed by the wind (anemophilous). Ears consist of a

corncob A corncob, also called corn cob, cob of corn or corn on the cob, is the central core of an ear of corn (also known as maize). It is the part of the ear on which the kernels grow. The ear is also considered a "cob" or "pole" but it is not ful ...

, or

rachis In biology, a rachis (from the grc, ῥάχις [], "backbone, spine") is a main axis or "shaft". In zoology and microbiology In vertebrates, ''rachis'' can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, which encase the spinal cord. In this c ...

, with rows of sessile spikelets bearing kernels, or

caryopses In botany, a caryopsis (plural caryopses) is a type of simple fruit—one that is monocarpellate (formed from a single carpel) and indehiscent (not opening at maturity) and resembles an achene, except that in a caryopsis the pericarp is fused ...

, and tightly enveloped by several layers of ear leaves commonly called

husk Husk (or hull) in botany is the outer shell or coating of a seed. In the United States, the term husk often refers to the leafy outer covering of an ear of maize (corn) as it grows on the plant. Literally, a husk or hull includes the protective ...

s. The kernels vary from variety to variety, and what distinguishes ''Zea mays'' var. ''indentata'' from other varieties of ''Zea mays'' is the small indentation ("dent") that develops at the crown of each

. Comparatively,

has a harder-textured, more rounded kernel that may display a slight depression but not a distinct dent.

Cultivation

Dent corn is typically cultivated as a row crop grown commercially for grain and fodder. Cultivars developed for commercial cultivation are either single- or double-cross hybrids bred for special growing areas, soils, or climatic conditions.

Use

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS), there are two categories of dent corn hybrids. These hybrids are categorized by the colour of the kernels—either yellow or white. Yellow dent corn is produced primarily for animal feed and industrial uses such as ethanol and cooking oils.U.S. Department of Agriculture, Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration
Commodity Image Gallery: Yellow Dent Corn
(2012). Retrieved 10 December 2013. FGIS identifies that "white food corn hybrids are dent corn... are typically contracted and sold to dry-mill processors and used in alkaline cooking processes for making masa, tortilla chips, snack foods, and grits" as well as producing food-grade starch and paper.U.S. Department of Agriculture, Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration

(2012). Retrieved 10 December 2013. Dependent on their starch content, some yellow dent corn hybrids are grown and used in the production of food for human consumption.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q16955875 Maize varieties

Taxonomy

Description

Cultivation

Use

See also

References