in order to evaluate forage quality in intercropping, two field experiments were carried out based on randomized complete block design with three replications at the agricultural research station, faculty of agriculture, university of tabriz, iran, in 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 growing seasons. two maize (zea mays l.) hybrids (sc704, sc301), vetch (vicia villosa), bitter vetch (vicia ervilia), ber...

Waxy maize (Zea mays L. var. certaina Kulesh), with many excellent characters in terms of starch composition and economic value, has grown in China for a long history and its production has increased dramatically in recent decades. However, the evolution and origin of waxy maize still remains unclear. We studied the genetic diversity of Chinese waxy maize including typical landraces and inbred ...

Maize was domesticated from its wild ancestor, teosinte, in southern Mexico between ~6,250 and ~10,000 years ago. The domestication of maize resulted in an extensive phenotypic change in female inflorescence (ear) structures from teosinte. MADS-box genes encode transcription factors which are key regulators of plant inflorescence and flower development. We examined DNA sequence variation in 32 ...

Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important cereal crops and a model for the study of genetics, evolution, and domestication. To better understand maize genome organization and to build a framework for genome sequencing, we constructed a sequence-ready fingerprinted contig-based physical map that covers 93.5% of the genome, of which 86.1% is aligned to the genetic map. The fingerprinted co...

Achieving grain supply security with limited arable land is a major challenge in the twenty-first century, owing to the changing climate and increasing global population. Maize plays an increasingly vital role in global grain production. As a C4 plant, maize has a high yield potential. Maize is predicted to become the number one cereal in the world by 2020. However, maize production has plateau...

Agrobacterium tumefaciens is routinely used to engineer desirable genes into dicotyledonous plants. However, the economically important graminaceous plant maize is refractory to tumor induction by inoculation with virulent strains of A. tumefaciens. Currently, the only clearcut evidence for transferred DNA (T-DNA) transport from Agrobacterium to maize comes from agroinfection. To study T-DNA tr...

A cDNA clone encoding maize branching enzyme II (BEII) has been independently isolated from a maize endosperm cDNA library. The deduced protein sequence of maize BEII was compared with that of BE from diverse sources. The gene encoding mature BEII of maize endosperm has been expressed in E. coli using the T7 promoter. The expressed BEII was purified to near homogeneity so that amylolytic activi...

Fumonisins are mycotoxins found in maize. In developing countries, the resources required for analysis are often lacking, and the shipping of maize between countries can be difficult since the importation of plant materials requires permits/ inspection to prevent the entry of pests that frequently infest maize. A simple, safe and legal method for shipping maize extracts to the USA was needed to...

The use of pigmented maize varieties has increased due to their high anthocyanins content, but very few studies are reported about the starch properties of these grains. The aim of this work was to isolate the starch granules from pigmented blue maize and carry out the morphological, physicochemical, and biochemical characterization studies. The proximate composition of starch granules showed h...

Faruq Hasan M. 2008. Economic Efficiency and Constraints of Maize Production in the Northern Region of Bangladesh. j. innov.dev.strategy 1(1): 18-32 The study was conducted at the Sadar upazila of Dinajpur and Panchagarh to estimate the costs, returns and economic efficiency of maize production compared to Boro rice. The growth rate of maize in the country and constraints to maize production at...