The crucial importance of secondary data for socio-economic analysis cannot be overemphasised. The results of research are only as good as the quality of data used: garbage in, garbage out. This paper questions the reliability of officially published statistics. Aggregate maize production data was collected from the official publications of the Central Bank of Nigeria based on the National Bure...

Aspergillus flavus is an opportunistic plant pathogen that colonizes and produces the toxic and carcinogenic secondary metabolites, aflatoxins, in oil-rich crops such as maize (Zea mays ssp. mays L.). Pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins serve as an important defense mechanism against invading pathogens by conferring systemic acquired resistance in plants. Among these, production of the PR maize ...

A farm-level survey of Rural Extension Directorate and Sasakawa-Global 2000 (DNER/SG) high-input maize program (improved seed and fertilizer) participants was undertaken in 1997 in Nampula Province (northern Mozambique), focusing on the 1996/97 production season. In the following production season (1997/98), the survey was broadened to include participants in DNER’s lowinput maize program (impr...

Objectives of this study were to understand how opaque-2 (o2) mutation and quality protein maize (QPM) affect maize kernel composition and starch structure, property, and enzyme digestibility. Kernels of o2 maize contained less protein (9.6-12.5%) than those of the wild-type (WT) counterparts (12.7-13.3%). Kernels of a severe o2 mutant B46o2 also contained less starch (66.9%) than those of B46w...

Fusarium verticillioides (teleomorph Gibberella moniliformis) can be either an endophyte of maize, causing no visible disease, or a pathogen-causing disease of ears, stalks, roots and seedlings. At any stage, this fungus can synthesize fumonisins, a family of mycotoxins structurally similar to the sphingolipid sphinganine. Ingestion of fumonisin-contaminated maize has been associated with a num...

The activity of the maize (Zea mays) florigen gene ZEA CENTRORADIALIS8 (ZCN8) is associated with the floral transition in both day-neutral temperate maize and short-day (SD)-requiring tropical maize. We analyzed transcription and chromatin modifications at the ZCN8 locus and its nearly identical paralog ZCN7 during the floral transition. This analysis was performed with day-neutral maize (Zea m...

Background and Aims Maize bushy stunt phytoplasma (MBSP) is a bacterial pathogen of maize ( Zea mays L.) across Latin America. MBSP belongs to the 16SrI-B sub-group within the genus ' Candidatus Phytoplasma'. MBSP and its insect vector Dalbulus maidis (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) are restricted to maize; both are thought to have coevolved with maize during its domestication from a teosinte-like an...

Targeted mutagenesis using programmable DNA endonucleases has broad applications for studying gene function in planta and developing approaches to improve crop yields. Recently, a genetic method that eliminates the need to emasculate the female inbred during hybrid seed production, referred to as Seed Production Technology, has been described. The foundation of this genetic system relied on cla...

Members of the Fusarium graminearum species complex (FGSC) are important pathogens on wheat, maize, barley, and rice in China. Harvested grains are often contaminated by mycotoxins, such as the trichothecene nivalenol (NIV) and deoxynivalenol (DON) and the estrogenic mycotoxin zearalenone (ZEN), which is a big threat to humans and animals. In this study, 97 isolates were collected from maize, w...

The study reviews the current sorghum and maize production, processing and utilization in Botswana. Most of the grains produced in Botswana are used for home consumption, while processing of commercial and export commodities are limited both in terms of quantity and extent of processing. The major processing activity by both small scale and large scale firms is grain milling into maize and sorg...