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Breeding Field Crops pp 451–507Cite as

Breeding Corn (Maize)

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Abstract

Indian corn, or maize (Zea mays L.), is the world’s second leading cereal crop, after wheat. Corn is the leading grain crop in the United States, with production more than 2.5 times that of wheat, the next leading cereal grain. The United States produces nearly one-half of the total world production. The next largest corn-producing countries are the Peoples Republic of China and Brazil. Corn is the primary food grain in Mexico, Central America, and parts of South America, China, and Africa. In the United States, it is used primarily as a feed grain for livestock, but it is also the source of an increasing number of important industrial products. Because of the important place of corn in U.S. agriculture, it is quite appropriate that the foremost contribution of U.S. scientists in plant breeding should be a system for breeding hybrid corn.

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  1. University of Missouri, Columbia, USA

    John Milton Poehlman (Professor Emeritus)

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Poehlman, J.M. (1987). Breeding Corn (Maize). In: Breeding Field Crops. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7271-2_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7271-2_18

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