100-469: Kukuruznik (Russian: Кукурузник ) is a Russian word derived from "kukuruza", maize . It was used as a nickname for the following: Polikarpov Po-2 , a utility aircraft used extensively in agriculture Antonov An-2 , a purpose-built agricultural aircraft Nikita Khrushchev , leader of the Soviet Union, known for indiscriminately introducing maize throughout
200-456: A Fischer–Tropsch process (FT-SPK); with an alcohol -to-jet (ATJ) process from waste fermentation; or from synthetic biology through a solar reactor . Small piston engines can be modified to burn ethanol . Sustainable biofuels are an alternative to electrofuels . Sustainable aviation fuel is certified as being sustainable by a third-party organisation. Biogas is a mixture composed primarily of methane and carbon dioxide produced by
300-409: A diesel additive to reduce levels of particulates, carbon monoxide , and hydrocarbons from diesel-powered vehicles. The term biofuel is used in different ways. One definition is "Biofuels are biobased products, in solid, liquid, or gaseous forms. They are produced from crops or natural products, such as wood, or agricultural residues, such as molasses and bagasse." Other publications reserve
400-434: A renewable energy source. The use of biofuel has been subject to criticism regarding the " food vs fuel " debate, varied assessments of their sustainability , and ongoing deforestation and biodiversity loss as a result of biofuel production. In general, biofuels emit fewer greenhouse gas emissions when burned in an engine and are generally considered carbon-neutral fuels as the carbon emitted has been captured from
500-609: 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 sweet corn are grown for human consumption, while field corn varieties are used for animal feed, for uses such as cornmeal or masa , corn starch , corn syrup , pressing into corn oil , alcoholic beverages like bourbon whiskey , and as chemical feedstocks including ethanol and other biofuels . Maize
600-560: A " food versus fuel " dilemma, second-generation biofuels and third-generation biofuels (also called advanced biofuels or sustainable biofuels or drop-in biofuels) are made from feedstocks which do not directly compete with food or feed crop such as waste products and energy crops. A wide range of waste feedstocks such as those derived from agriculture and forestry activities like rice straw, rice husk, wood chips, and sawdust can be used to produce advanced biofuels through biochemical and thermochemical processes. The feedstock used to make
700-429: A biofuel or a fertilizer. When CO 2 and other impurities are removed from biogas, it is called biomethane . The CO 2 can also be combined with hydrogen in methanation to form more methane. Biogas can be recovered from mechanical biological treatment waste processing systems. Landfill gas , a less clean form of biogas, is produced in landfills through naturally occurring anaerobic digestion. If it escapes into
800-810: A conventional breeding program to provide optimized strains. The program began in the 1980s. Hybrid seeds are distributed in Africa by its Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa project. Tropical landraces remain an important and underused source of resistance alleles – both those for disease and for herbivores . Such alleles can then be introgressed into productive varieties. Rare alleles for this purpose were discovered by Dao and Sood, both in 2014. In 2018, Zerka Rashid of CIMMYT used its association mapping panel, developed for tropical drought tolerance traits. to find new genomic regions providing sorghum downy mildew resistance , and to further characterize known differentially methylated regions . Genetically modified maize
900-403: A corn head (with points and snap rolls instead of a reel) does not cut the stalk; it simply pulls the stalk down. The stalk continues downward and is crumpled into a mangled pile on the ground, where it usually is left to become organic matter for the soil . The ear of maize is too large to pass between slots in a plate as the snap rolls pull the stalk away, leaving only the ear and husk to enter
1000-458: A flash point of 125 °F (52 °C). In many European countries, a 5% biodiesel blend is widely used and is available at thousands of gas stations. In France, biodiesel is incorporated at a rate of 8% in the fuel used by all French diesel vehicles. Avril Group produces under the brand Diester , a fifth of 11 million tons of biodiesel consumed annually by the European Union . It
1100-408: A large cob. Yellow maizes derive their color from carotenoids ; red maizes are colored by anthocyanins and phlobaphenes ; and orange and green varieties may contain combinations of these pigments. Maize has short-day photoperiodism , meaning that it requires nights of a certain length to flower. Flowering further requires enough warm days above 10 °C (50 °F). The control of flowering
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#17328548692591200-499: A measure of protection against a wide range of pests. Because of its shallow roots, maize is susceptible to droughts, intolerant of nutrient-deficient soils, and prone to being uprooted by severe winds. Maize is diploid with 20 chromosomes . 83% of allelic variation within the genome derives from its teosinte ancestors, primarily due to the freedom of Zea species to outcross . Barbara McClintock used maize to validate her transposon theory of "jumping genes", for which she won
1300-614: A place but a condition, a savage rather than a civilized grain". International groups such as the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International consider maize the preferred common name. The word maize is used by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization , and in the names of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center of Mexico, the Indian Institute of Maize Research,
1400-590: A plant that uses C 4 carbon fixation , maize is a considerably more water-efficient crop than plants that use C 3 carbon fixation such as alfalfa and soybeans . Maize is most sensitive to drought at the time of silk emergence, when the flowers are ready for pollination. In the United States, a good harvest was traditionally predicted if the maize was "knee-high by the Fourth of July ", although modern hybrids generally exceed this growth rate. Maize used for silage
1500-451: A process called anaerobic digestion to produce biogas. Anaerobic digestion uses a chemical process to break down organic matter with the use of microorganisms in the absence of oxygen to produce biogas. The processes involved in anaerobic respiration are hydrolysis, acidogenesis , acetogenesis , and methanogenesis . Global biofuel production was 81 Mtoe in 2017 which represented an annual increase of about 3% compared to 2010. In 2017,
1600-624: A short-chain alcohol (usually methanol) in the presence of a catalyst (usually sodium hydroxide [NaOH] can be hydrogenated to give a diesel substitute. The resulting product is a straight-chain hydrocarbon with a high cetane number , low in aromatics and sulfur and does not contain oxygen. Hydrogenated oils can be blended with diesel in all proportions. They have several advantages over biodiesel, including good performance at low temperatures, no storage stability problems and no susceptibility to microbial attack. Biogasoline can be produced biologically and thermochemically. Using biological methods,
1700-893: A study led by Professor Lee Sang-yup at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology ( KAIST ) and published in the international science journal Nature used modified E. coli fed with glucose found in plants or other non-food crops to produce biogasoline with the produced enzymes. The enzymes converted the sugar into fatty acids and then turned these into hydrocarbons that were chemically and structurally identical to those found in commercial gasoline fuel. The thermochemical approach of producing biogasoline are similar to those used to produced biodiesel. Biogasoline may also be called drop-in gasoline or renewable gasoline. Bioethers (also referred to as fuel ethers or oxygenated fuels) are cost-effective compounds that act as octane rating enhancers. "Bioethers are produced by
1800-463: A wood-fueled gasification reactor, can be connected to an internal combustion engine. Syngas can be used to produce methanol , dimethyl ether and hydrogen , or converted via the Fischer–Tropsch process to produce a diesel substitute, or a mixture of alcohols that can be blended into gasoline. Gasification normally relies on temperatures greater than 700 °C. Lower-temperature gasification
1900-533: Is a major pest of maize in Asia. Biofuel Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from biomass , rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricultural, domestic or industrial biowaste . Biofuels are mostly used for transportation, but can also be used for heating and electricity. Biofuels (and bioenergy in general) are regarded as
2000-426: Is a problem in Asia. Some fungal diseases of maize produce potentially dangerous mycotoxins such as aflatoxin . In the United States, major diseases include tar spot , bacterial leaf streak , gray leaf spot , northern corn leaf blight, and Goss's wilt ; in 2022, the most damaging disease was tar spot, which caused losses of 116.8 million bushels . Maize sustains a billion dollars' worth of losses annually in
2100-425: Is a synthetic chemical fuel produced from solar energy. Light is converted to chemical energy , typically by reducing protons to hydrogen , or carbon dioxide to organic compounds . A bio-digester is a mechanized toilet that uses decomposition and sedimentation to turn human waste into a renewable fuel called biogas. Biogas can be made from substances like agricultural waste and sewage. The bio-digester uses
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#17328548692592200-401: Is also being developed as a feedstock for ethanol production. Ethanol can be used as a fuel for vehicles in its pure form (E100), but it is usually used as a gasoline additive to increase octane ratings and improve vehicle emissions. Biodiesel is produced from oils or fats using transesterification . It can be used as a fuel for vehicles in its pure form (B100), but it is usually used as
2300-496: Is an oxygenated fuel, meaning it contains a reduced amount of carbon and higher hydrogen and oxygen content than fossil diesel. This improves the combustion of biodiesel and reduces the particulate emissions from unburnt carbon. However, using pure biodiesel may increase NO x -emissions Biodiesel is also safe to handle and transport because it is non-toxic and biodegradable , and has a high flash point of about 300 °F (148 °C) compared to petroleum diesel fuel, which has
2400-408: Is composed of transposons , contains 32,540 genes. Much of it has been duplicated and reshuffled by helitrons , a group of transposable elements within maize's DNA. Maize breeding in prehistory resulted in large plants producing large ears. Modern breeding began with individuals who selected highly productive varieties in their fields and then sold seed to other farmers. James L. Reid was one of
2500-534: Is cultivated throughout the world; a greater weight of maize is produced each year than any other grain. In 2020, world production was 1.1 billion tonnes. It is afflicted by many pests and diseases ; two major insect pests, European corn borer and corn rootworms , have each caused annual losses of a billion dollars in the US. Modern plant breeding has greatly increased output and qualities such as nutrition, drought tolerance, and tolerance of pests and diseases. Much maize
2600-458: Is currently produced from natural gas , a non-renewable fossil fuel. In the future it is hoped to be produced from biomass as biomethanol . This is technically feasible, but the production is currently being postponed for concerns that the economic viability is still pending. The methanol economy is an alternative to the hydrogen economy to be contrasted with today's hydrogen production from natural gas. Butanol ( C 4 H 9 OH )
2700-493: Is desirable when co-producing biochar , but results in syngas polluted with tar . The term "biofuels" is also used for solid fuels that are made from biomass, even though this is less common. Algae can be produced in ponds or tanks on land, and out at sea. Algal fuels have high yields, a high ignition point , can be grown with minimal impact on fresh water resources, can be produced using saline water and wastewater , and are biodegradable and relatively harmless to
2800-501: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Maize Maize / m eɪ z / ( 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
2900-408: Is formed by ABE fermentation (acetone, butanol, ethanol) and experimental modifications of the process show potentially high net energy gains with biobutanol as the only liquid product. Biobutanol is often claimed to provide a direct replacement for gasoline, because it will produce more energy than ethanol and allegedly can be burned "straight" in existing gasoline engines (without modification to
3000-414: Is fossilised or embedded in geological formations". This means that coal or other fossil fuels is not a form of biomass in this context. First-generation biofuels (also denoted as "conventional biofuels") are made from food crops grown on arable land. The crop's sugar, starch, or oil content is converted into biodiesel or ethanol , using transesterification , or yeast fermentation. To avoid
3100-414: Is harvested while the plant is green and the fruit immature. Sweet corn is harvested in the "milk stage", after pollination but before starch has formed, between late summer and early to mid-autumn. Field maize is left in the field until very late in the autumn to thoroughly dry the grain, and may, in fact, sometimes not be harvested until winter or even early spring. The importance of sufficient soil moisture
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3200-441: Is known as Evolution Diesel. Straight unmodified edible vegetable oil is generally not used as fuel, but lower-quality oil has been used for this purpose. Used vegetable oil is increasingly being processed into biodiesel, or (more rarely) cleaned of water and particulates and then used as a fuel. The IEA estimates that biodiesel production used 17% of global vegetable oil supplies in 2021. Oils and fats reacted with 10 pounds of
3300-418: Is not sufficient to convert the biomass completely to carbon dioxide and water). Before partial combustion the biomass is dried and sometimes pyrolysed . Syngas is more efficient than direct combustion of the original biofuel; more of the energy contained in the fuel is extracted. Syngas may be burned directly in internal combustion engines, turbines or high-temperature fuel cells. The wood gas generator ,
3400-533: Is now genetically modified . As a food, maize is used to make a wide variety of dishes including Mexican tortillas and tamales , Italian polenta , and American hominy grits . Maize protein is low in some essential amino acids , and the niacin it contains only becomes available if freed by alkali treatment . In Mesoamerica, maize is deified as a maize god and depicted in sculptures. Maize requires human intervention for it to propagate. The kernels of its naturally-propagating teosinte ancestor fall off
3500-407: Is predicted to increase by 56% over 2022–2027. By 2027 worldwide biofuel production is expected to supply 5.4% of the world's fuels for transport including 1% of aviation fuel. Demand for aviation biofuel is forecast to increase. However some policy has been criticised for favoring ground transportation over aviation. The two most common types of biofuel are bioethanol and biodiesel . Brazil
3600-468: Is set genetically; the physiological mechanism involves the phytochrome system. Tropical cultivars can be problematic if grown in higher latitudes, as the longer days can make the plants grow tall instead of setting seed before winter comes. On the other hand, growing tall rapidly could be convenient for producing biofuel. Immature maize shoots accumulate a powerful antibiotic substance, 2,4-dihydroxy-7-methoxy-1,4-benzoxazin-3-one ( DIMBOA ), which provides
3700-545: Is shown in many parts of Africa, where periodic drought regularly causes maize crop failure and consequent famine . Although it is grown mainly in wet, hot climates, it can thrive in cold, hot, dry or wet conditions, meaning that it is an extremely versatile crop. Maize was planted by the Native Americans in small hills of soil, in the polyculture system called the Three Sisters . Maize provided support for beans ;
3800-976: Is sometimes called biogasoline , which is incorrect as it is chemically different, being an alcohol and not a hydrocarbon like gasoline. Biodiesel is the most common biofuel in Europe. It is produced from oils or fats using transesterification and is a liquid similar in composition to fossil/mineral diesel. Chemically, it consists mostly of fatty acid methyl (or ethyl) esters ( FAMEs ). Feedstocks for biodiesel include animal fats, vegetable oils, soy , rapeseed , jatropha , mahua , mustard , flax , sunflower , palm oil , hemp , field pennycress , Pongamia pinnata and algae . Pure biodiesel (B100, also known as "neat" biodiesel) currently reduces emissions with up to 60% compared to diesel Second generation B100. As of 2020 , researchers at Australia's CSIRO have been studying safflower oil as an engine lubricant , and researchers at Montana State University 's Advanced Fuels Center in
3900-410: Is still at the research level. The biofuels that are secreted by the bioengineered organisms are expected to have higher photon-to-fuel conversion efficiency, compared to older generations of biofuels. One of the advantages of this class of biofuels is that the cultivation of the organisms that produce the biofuels does not require the use of arable land. The disadvantages include the cost of cultivating
4000-543: Is the domesticated variant of the four species of teosintes , which are its crop wild relatives . The teosinte origin theory was proposed by the Russian botanist Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov in 1931, and the American Nobel Prize -winner George Beadle in 1932. The two plants have dissimilar appearance, maize having a single tall stalk with multiple leaves and teosinte being a short, bushy plant. The difference between
4100-498: Is the largest producer of bioethanol, while the EU is the largest producer of biodiesel. The energy content in the global production of bioethanol and biodiesel is 2.2 and 1.8 EJ per year, respectively. Bioethanol is an alcohol made by fermentation , mostly from carbohydrates produced in sugar or starch crops such as maize , sugarcane , or sweet sorghum . Cellulosic biomass , derived from non-food sources, such as trees and grasses,
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4200-528: Is the leading European producer of biodiesel. Green diesel can be produced from a combination of biochemical and thermochemical processes. Conventional green diesel is produced through hydroprocessing biological oil feedstocks, such as vegetable oils and animal fats. Recently, it is produced using series of thermochemical processes such as pyrolysis and hydroprocessing. In the thermochemical route, syngas produced from gasification, bio-oil produced from pyrolysis or biocrude produced from hydrothermal liquefaction
4300-405: Is the leaf most closely associated with a particular developing ear. This leaf and those above it contribute over three quarters of the carbohydrate ( starch ) that fills the grain. The grains are usually yellow or white in modern varieties; other varieties have orange, red, brown, blue , purple , or black grains. They are arranged in 8 to 32 rows around the cob; there can be up to 1200 grains on
4400-629: Is upgraded to green diesel using hydroprocessing. Hydroprocessing is the process of using hydrogen to reform a molecular structure. For example, hydrocracking which is a widely used hydroprocessing technique in refineries is used at elevated temperatures and pressure in the presence of a catalyst to break down larger molecules , such as those found in vegetable oils , into shorter hydrocarbon chains used in diesel engines. Green diesel may also be called renewable diesel, drop-in biodiesel, hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO fuel) or hydrogen-derived renewable diesel. Unlike biodiesel, green diesel has exactly
4500-467: Is used to decarbonize medium and long-haul air travel. These types of travel generate the most emissions, and could extend the life of older aircraft types by lowering their carbon footprint. Synthetic paraffinic kerosene (SPK) refers to any non-petroleum-based fuel designed to replace kerosene jet fuel , which is often, but not always, made from biomass. Biofuels are biomass -derived fuels from plants, animals, or waste; depending on which type of biomass
4600-545: Is used, they could lower CO 2 emissions by 20–98% compared to conventional jet fuel . The first test flight using blended biofuel was in 2008, and in 2011, blended fuels with 50% biofuels were allowed on commercial flights. In 2023 SAF production was 600 million liters, representing 0.2% of global jet fuel use. Aviation biofuel can be produced from plant or animal sources such as Jatropha , algae , tallows , waste oils, palm oil , Babassu , and Camelina (bio-SPK); from solid biomass using pyrolysis processed with
4700-602: The Balsas River valley in Mexico's southwestern highlands, as the crop wild relative genetically most similar to modern maize. The middle part of the short Balsas River valley is the likely location of early domestication. Stone milling tools with maize residue have been found in an 8,700 year old layer of deposits in a cave not far from Iguala, Guerrero . Doebley and colleagues showed in 2002 that maize had been domesticated only once, about 9,000 years ago, and then spread throughout
4800-478: 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
4900-594: The 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine . Maize remains an important model organism for genetics and developmental biology . The MADS-box motif is involved in the development of maize flowers. The Maize Genetics and Genomics Database is funded by the US Department of Agriculture to support maize research. The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center maintains a large collection of maize accessions tested and cataloged for insect resistance. In 2005,
5000-645: The Americas. Maize pollen dated to 7,300 years ago from San Andres, Tabasco has been found on the Caribbean coast. A primitive corn was being grown in southern Mexico, Central America, and northern South America 7,000 years ago. Archaeological remains of early maize ears, found at Guila Naquitz Cave in the Oaxaca Valley , are roughly 6,250 years old; the oldest ears from caves near Tehuacan , Puebla, are 5,450 years old. Around 4,500 years ago, maize began to spread to
5100-474: The B-vitamin niacin , the lack of which caused pellagra . Once alkali processing and dietary variety were understood and applied, pellagra disappeared in the developed world. The development of high- lysine maize and the promotion of a more balanced diet have contributed to its demise. Pellagra still exists in food-poor areas and refugee camps where people survive on donated maize. The name maize derives from
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#17328548692595200-671: The Maize Association of Australia, the National Maize Association of Nigeria, the National Maize Association of Ghana, the Maize Trust of South Africa, and the Zimbabwe Seed Maize Association. Maize is a tall annual grass with a single stem, ranging in height from 1.2 m (4 ft) to 4 m (13 ft). The long narrow leaves arise from the nodes or joints, alternately on opposite sides on
5300-627: The Soviet Union See also [ edit ] Ural Airlines Flight 178 Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Kukuruznik . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kukuruznik&oldid=1256768244 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Articles containing Russian-language text Short description
5400-574: The Spanish form maíz of the Taíno mahis . The Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus used the common name maize as the species epithet in Zea mays . The name maize is preferred in formal, scientific, and international usage as a common name because it refers specifically to this one grain, unlike corn , which has a complex variety of meanings that vary by context and geographic region. Most countries primarily use
5500-461: The UK, it is highly unlikely they will become a fuel in and of itself due to the low energy density. An aviation biofuel (also known as bio-jet fuel or bio-aviation fuel (BAF) ) is a biofuel used to power aircraft and is a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The International Air Transport Association (IATA) considers it a key element in reducing the environmental impact of aviation . Aviation biofuel
5600-544: The US National Science Foundation , Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Energy formed a consortium to sequence the maize genome . The resulting DNA sequence data was deposited immediately into GenBank , a public repository for genome-sequence data. Sequencing of the maize genome was completed in 2008. In 2009, the consortium published results of its sequencing effort. The genome, 85% of which
5700-529: The US from each of two major insect pests , namely the European corn borer or ECB ( Ostrinia nubilalis ) and corn rootworms ( Diabrotica spp ) western corn rootworm , northern corn rootworm , and southern corn rootworm . Another serious pest is the fall armyworm ( Spodoptera frugiperda ). The maize weevil ( Sitophilus zeamais ) is a serious pest of stored grain. The Northern armyworm, Oriental armyworm or Rice ear-cutting caterpillar ( Mythimna separata )
5800-453: The US have been studying the oil's performance in a large diesel engine , with results described as a "breakthrough". Biodiesel can be used in any diesel engine and modified equipment when mixed with mineral diesel. It can also be used in its pure form (B100) in diesel engines, but some maintenance and performance problems may occur during wintertime utilization, since the fuel becomes somewhat more viscous at lower temperatures, depending on
5900-490: The US was the largest biofuel producer in the world producing 37 Mtoe, followed by Brazil and South America at 23 Mtoe and Europe (mainly Germany) at 12 Mtoe. An assessment from 2017 found that: "Biofuels will never be a major transport fuel as there is just not enough land in the world to grow plants to make biofuel for all vehicles. It can however, be part of an energy mix to take us into a future of renewable energy ." In 2021, worldwide biofuel production provided 4.3% of
6000-463: The atmosphere by the crops used in production. However, life-cycle assessments of biofuels have shown large emissions associated with the potential land-use change required to produce additional biofuel feedstocks. The outcomes of lifecycle assessments (LCAs) for biofuels are highly situational and dependent on many factors including the type of feedstock, production routes, data variations, and methodological choices. This could be added to emphasize
6100-410: The atmosphere, it acts as a greenhouse gas . In Sweden, "waste-to-energy" power plants capture methane biogas from garbage and use it to power transport systems. Farmers can produce biogas from cattle manure via anaerobic digesters. Syngas , a mixture of carbon monoxide , hydrogen and various hydrocarbons, is produced by partial combustion of biomass (combustion with an amount of oxygen that
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#17328548692596200-418: The beans provided nitrogen derived from nitrogen-fixing rhizobia bacteria which live on the roots of beans and other legumes ; and squashes provided ground cover to stop weeds and inhibit evaporation by providing shade over the soil. Sweet corn, harvested earlier than maize grown for grain, grows to maturity in a period of from 60 to 100 days according to variety. An extended sweet corn harvest, picked at
6300-429: The biofuel-producing organisms being very high. Electrofuels and solar fuels may or may not be biofuels, depending on whether they contain biological elements. Electrofuels are made by storing electrical energy in the chemical bonds of liquids and gases. The primary targets are butanol , biodiesel, and hydrogen , but include other alcohols and carbon-containing gases such as methane and butane . A solar fuel
6400-598: The body of Christ. Maize spread to the rest of the world because of its ability to grow in diverse climates. It was cultivated in Spain just a few decades after Columbus's voyages and then spread to Italy, West Africa and elsewhere. By the 17th century, it was a common peasant food in Southern Europe. By the 18th century, it was the chief food of the southern French and Italian peasantry, especially as polenta in Italy. When maize
6500-572: The cob on their own, while those of domesticated maize do not. All maize arose from a single domestication in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago. The oldest surviving maize types are those of the Mexican highlands. Maize spread from this region to the lowlands and over the Americas along two major paths. The centre of domestication was most likely the Balsas River valley of south-central Mexico. Maize reached highland Ecuador at least 8000 years ago. It reached lower Central America by 7600 years ago, and
6600-457: The complexity and variability in assessing the environmental impacts of biofuels. Estimates about the climate impact from biofuels vary widely based on the methodology and exact situation examined. Therefore, the climate change mitigation potential of biofuel varies considerably: in some scenarios emission levels are comparable to fossil fuels, and in other scenarios the biofuel emissions result in negative emissions . Global demand for biofuels
6700-425: The earliest and most successful, developing Reid's Yellow Dent in the 1860s. These early efforts were based on mass selection (a row of plants is grown from seeds of one parent), and the choosing of plants after pollination (which means that only the female parents are known). Later breeding efforts included ear to row selection (C. G. Hopkins c. 1896), hybrids made from selected inbred lines (G. H. Shull, 1909), and
6800-400: The engine itself, although this depends on the fuel rail design. Since biodiesel is an effective solvent and cleans residues deposited by mineral diesel, engine filters may need to be replaced more often, as the biofuel dissolves old deposits in the fuel tank and pipes. It also effectively cleans the engine combustion chamber of carbon deposits, helping to maintain efficiency. Biodiesel
6900-490: The engine or car), is less corrosive and less water-soluble than ethanol, and could be distributed via existing infrastructures. Escherichia coli strains have also been successfully engineered to produce butanol by modifying their amino acid metabolism . One drawback to butanol production in E. coli remains the high cost of nutrient rich media , however, recent work has demonstrated E. coli can produce butanol with minimal nutritional supplementation. Biobutanol
7000-413: The entire ear is harvested, which requires a separate operation of a maize sheller to remove the kernels from the ear. Whole ears of maize were often stored in corn cribs , sufficient for some livestock feeding uses. Today corn cribs with whole ears, and corn binders, are less common because most modern farms harvest the grain from the field with a combine harvester and store it in bins . The combine with
7100-608: The environment if spilled. However, production requires large amounts of energy and fertilizer, the produced fuel degrades faster than other biofuels, and it does not flow well in cold temperatures. By 2017, due to economic considerations, most efforts to produce fuel from algae have been abandoned or changed to other applications. Third and fourth-generation biofuels also include biofuels that are produced by bioengineered organisms i.e. algae and cyanobacteria. Algae and cyanobacteria will use water, carbon dioxide, and solar energy to produce biofuels. This method of biofuel production
7200-753: The expansion of the Inca Empire , maize was traded and transported as far south as 40° S in Melinquina, Lácar Department , Argentina, probably brought across the Andes from Chile. After the arrival of Europeans in 1492, Spanish settlers consumed maize, and explorers and traders carried it back to Europe . Spanish settlers much preferred wheat bread to maize. Maize flour could not be substituted for wheat for communion bread, since in Christian belief at that time only wheat could undergo transubstantiation and be transformed into
7300-407: The feedstock used. Electronically controlled ' common rail ' and ' Unit Injector ' type systems from the late 1990s onwards can only use biodiesel blended with conventional diesel fuel. These engines have finely metered and atomized multiple-stage injection systems that are very sensitive to the viscosity of the fuel. Many current-generation diesel engines are designed to run on B100 without altering
7400-694: The fermentation of sugars or starches (easiest to produce) or cellulose (more difficult to produce).The IEA estimates that ethanol production used 20% of sugar supplies and 13% of corn supplies in 2021. Ethanol fuel is the most common biofuel worldwide, particularly in Brazil . Alcohol fuels are produced by fermentation of sugars derived from wheat , corn , sugar beets , sugar cane , molasses and any sugar or starch from which alcoholic beverages such as whiskey , can be made (such as potato and fruit waste, etc.). Production methods used are enzyme digestion (to release sugars from stored starches), fermentation of
7500-428: The fuels either grow on arable land but are byproducts of the main crop, or they are grown on marginal land. Second-generation feedstocks also include straw, bagasse, perennial grasses, jatropha, waste vegetable oil, municipal solid waste and so forth. Biologically produced alcohols , most commonly ethanol, and less commonly propanol and butanol , are produced by the action of microorganisms and enzymes through
7600-532: The highly successful double cross hybrids using four inbred lines ( D. F. Jones c. 1918, 1922). University-supported breeding programs were especially important in developing and introducing modern hybrids. Since the 1940s, the best strains of maize have been first-generation hybrids made from inbred strains that have been optimized for specific traits, such as yield, nutrition, drought, pest and disease tolerance. Both conventional cross-breeding and genetic engineering have succeeded in increasing output and reducing
7700-538: The history of the word corn in North America that "[t]o say the word corn is to plunge into the tragi-farcical mistranslations of language and history". Similar to the British usage, the Spanish referred to maize as panizo , a generic term for cereal grains, as did Italians with the term polenta . The British later referred to maize as Turkey wheat, Turkey corn, or Indian corn; Fussell comments that "they meant not
7800-419: The machinery. The combine separates the husk and the cob, keeping only the kernels. Drying is vital to prevent or at least reduce damage by mould fungi, which contaminate the grain with mycotoxins . Aspergillus and Fusarium spp. are the most common mycotoxin sources, and accordingly important in agriculture. If the moisture content of the harvested grain is too high, grain dryers are used to reduce
7900-413: The milk stage, can be arranged either by planting a selection of varieties which ripen earlier and later, or by planting different areas at fortnightly intervals. Maize harvested as a grain crop can be kept in the field a relatively long time, even months, after the crop is ready to harvest; it can be harvested and stored in the husk leaves if kept dry. Before World War II , most maize in North America
8000-427: The moisture content by blowing heated air through the grain. This can require large amounts of energy in the form of combustible gases ( propane or natural gas ) and electricity to power the blowers. Maize is widely cultivated throughout the world, and a greater weight of maize is produced each year than any other grain. In 2020, total world production was 1.16 billion tonnes , led by the United States with 31.0% of
8100-417: The most commonly used ethers in fuel to replace lead. Ethers were introduced in Europe in the 1970s to replace the highly toxic compound. Although Europeans still use bioether additives, the U.S. Energy Policy Act of 2005 lifted a requirement for reformulated gasoline to include an oxygenate, leading to less MTBE being added to fuel. Although bioethers are likely to replace ethers produced from petroleum in
8200-501: The need for cropland, pesticides, water and fertilizer. There is conflicting evidence to support the hypothesis that maize yield potential has increased over the past few decades. This suggests that changes in yield potential are associated with leaf angle, lodging resistance, tolerance of high plant density, disease/pest tolerance, and other agronomic traits rather than increase of yield potential per individual plant. Certain varieties of maize have been bred to produce many ears; these are
8300-400: The new crop. The rise in maize cultivation 500 to 1,000 years ago in what is now the southeastern United States corresponded with a decline of freshwater mussels , which are very sensitive to environmental changes. Because it is cold-intolerant, in the temperate zones maize must be planted in the spring. Its root system is generally shallow, so the plant is dependent on soil moisture. As
8400-459: The north. In the United States, maize was first cultivated at several sites in New Mexico and Arizona about 4,100 years ago. During the first millennium AD, maize cultivation spread more widely in the areas north. In particular, the large-scale adoption of maize agriculture and consumption in eastern North America took place about A.D. 900. Native Americans cleared large forest and grassland areas for
8500-753: The presence of Starlink genetically modified corn, which had been approved only for animal consumption. The maize genus Zea is relatively closely related to sorghum , both being in the PACMAD clade of Old World grasses, and much more distantly to rice and wheat , which are in the other major group of grasses, the BOP clade . It is closely related to Tripsacum , gamagrass. various grasses e.g. fescue , ryegrass Hordeum (barley) Triticum (wheat) Oryza (rice) Pennisetum (fountaingrasses) Sorghum (sorghum) Tripsacum (gamagrass) Zea mays (maize) other Zea species ( teosintes ) Maize
8600-437: The process of anaerobic digestion of organic material by micro-organisms . Other trace components of this mixture includes water vapor, hydrogen sulfide , siloxanes, hydrocarbons, ammonia, oxygen, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen. It can be produced either from biodegradable waste materials or by the use of energy crops fed into anaerobic digesters to supplement gas yields. The solid byproduct, digestate , can be used as
8700-761: The reaction of reactive iso-olefins, such as iso-butylene, with bioethanol." Bioethers are created from wheat or sugar beets, and also be produced from the waste glycerol that results from the production of biodiesel. They also enhance engine performance, while significantly reducing engine wear and toxic exhaust emissions . By greatly reducing the amount of ground-level ozone emissions, they contribute to improved air quality. In transportation fuel there are six ether additives: dimethyl ether (DME), diethyl ether (DEE), methyl tert -butyl ether (MTBE), ethyl tert -butyl ether (ETBE), tert -amyl methyl ether (TAME), and tert -amyl ethyl ether (TAEE). The European Fuel Oxygenates Association identifies MTBE and ETBE as
8800-563: The same chemical properties as petroleum-based diesel. It does not require new engines, pipelines or infrastructure to distribute and use, but has not been produced at a cost that is competitive with petroleum . Gasoline versions are also being developed. Green diesel is being developed in Louisiana and Singapore by ConocoPhillips , Neste Oil , Valero , Dynamic Fuels, and Honeywell UOP as well as Preem in Gothenburg, Sweden, creating what
8900-487: The source of the " baby corn " used as a vegetable in Asian cuisine . A fast-flowering variety named mini-maize was developed to aid scientific research, as multiple generations can be obtained in a single year. One strain called olotón has evolved a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing microbes, which provides the plant with 29%–82% of its nitrogen. The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) operates
9000-415: The stalk. Maize is monoecious , with separate male and female flowers on the same plant. At the top of the stem is the tassel, an inflorescence of male flowers; their anthers release pollen, which is dispersed by wind . Like other pollen, it is an allergen , but most of it falls within a few meters of the tassel and the risk is largely restricted to farm workers. The female inflorescence, some way down
9100-425: The stem from the tassel, is first seen as a silk, a bundle of soft tubular hairs , one for the carpel in each female flower, which develops into a kernel (often called a seed. Botanically, as in all grasses, it is a fruit, fused with the seed coat to form a caryopsis ) when it is pollinated. A whole female inflorescence develops into an ear or corncob , enveloped by multiple leafy layers or husks. The ear leaf
9200-442: The sugars, distillation and drying. The distillation process requires significant energy input to generate heat. Heat is sometimes generated with unsustainable natural gas fossil fuel, but cellulosic biomass such as bagasse is the most common fuel in Brazil, while pellets, wood chips and also waste heat are more common in Europe. Corn-to-ethanol and other food stocks has led to the development of cellulosic ethanol . Methanol
9300-598: The term maize , and the name corn is used mainly in the United States and a handful of other English-speaking countries. In countries that primarily use the term maize , the word corn may denote any cereal crop, varying geographically with the local staple , such as wheat in England and oats in Scotland or Ireland. The usage of corn for maize started as a shortening of " Indian corn " in 18th-century North America. The historian of food Betty Fussell writes in an article on
9400-401: The term biofuel for liquid or gaseous fuels, used for transportation. The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report defines biofuel as "A fuel, generally in liquid form, produced from biomass . Biofuels include bioethanol from sugarcane, sugar beet or maize, and biodiesel from canola or soybeans.". It goes on to define biomass in this context as "organic material excluding the material that
9500-472: The total (table). China produced 22.4% of the global total. Many pests can affect maize growth and development, including invertebrates, weeds, and pathogens. Maize is susceptible to a large number of fungal, bacterial, and viral plant diseases . Those of economic importance include diseases of the leaf, smuts such as corn smut , ear rots and stalk rots. Northern corn leaf blight damages maize throughout its range, whereas banded leaf and sheath blight
9600-500: The two is largely controlled by differences in just two genes, called grassy tillers-1 ( gt1 , A0A317YEZ1 ) and teosinte branched-1 ( tb1 , Q93WI2 ). In the late 1930s, Paul Mangelsdorf suggested that domesticated maize was the result of a hybridization event between an unknown wild maize and a species of Tripsacum , a related genus; this has been refuted by modern genetic testing . In 2004, John Doebley identified Balsas teosinte, Zea mays subsp. parviglumis , native to
9700-582: The valleys of the Colombian Andes between 7000 and 6000 years ago. The earliest maize plants grew a single, small ear per plant. The Olmec and Maya cultivated maize in numerous varieties throughout Mesoamerica ; they cooked, ground and processed it through nixtamalization . By 3000 years ago, maize was central to Olmec culture, including their calendar, language, and myths. The Mapuche people of south-central Chile cultivated maize along with quinoa and potatoes in pre-Hispanic times. Before
9800-458: Was harvested by hand. This involved a large number of workers and associated social events (husking or shucking bees ). From the 1890s onward, some machinery became available to partially mechanize the processes, such as one- and two-row mechanical pickers (picking the ear, leaving the stover ) and corn binders, which are reaper-binders designed specifically for maize. The latter produce sheaves that can be shocked . By hand or mechanical picker,
9900-425: Was introduced into Western farming systems, it was welcomed for its productivity. However, a widespread problem of malnutrition soon arose wherever it had become a staple food . Indigenous Americans had learned to soak maize in alkali -water — made with ashes and lime — since at least 1200–1500 BC, creating the process of nixtamalization. They did this to liberate the corn hulls, but coincidentally it also liberated
10000-466: Was one of the 26 genetically engineered food crops grown commercially in 2016. The vast majority of this is Bt maize . Genetically modified maize has been grown since 1997 in the United States and Canada; by 2016, 92% of the US maize crop was genetically modified. As of 2011, herbicide-tolerant maize and insect-resistant maize varieties were each grown in over 20 countries. In September 2000, up to $ 50 million worth of food products were recalled due to
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