What plant family does corn belong to? Understanding corn's family and genus in one article

Corn, also known as bao gu, is an important food crop in our country and is often boiled and eaten for breakfast. It is now grown in most regions, so what plant family does corn belong to?

1. What plant family does corn belong to?

Corn is an annual herbaceous plant in the grass family (Poaceae). It originated in South America and Central America. It is grown in most regions of our country and is an important food crop. At present, according to use, it can be divided into grain varieties, vegetable varieties, processing varieties and popcorn-type varieties.

2. What are the common varieties of corn?

1. Sweet corn

Sweet corn is a very popular variety on the market at present. It is also called vegetable corn or fruit corn. It can be eaten cooked, eaten raw, or processed into canned goods and other side foods. Sweet corn has a relatively high sugar content, and sweet corn is also divided into several types, mainly determined by its sugar content. The current planting scale of this kind of corn in our country is not very large, but it sells very well.

2. Waxy corn

Waxy corn is also called sticky corn. Its properties are actually just like glutinous rice: relatively high amylose content, high edible digestibility and strong stickiness. Glutinous rice is not only higher than ordinary corn in edible value, but also much higher in palatability and utilization rate when processed into feed. However, its disadvantage is that its planting yield is not as high as that of ordinary corn, so planting techniques still need to be improved.

3. High-lysine corn

High-lysine corn is a kind of corn with high protein content. Its protein content is higher than that of other corns; in fact, this means its lysine content is high. It is of great significance in food use and feed processing. Especially when used as feed, the cost of using high-lysine corn is at least about 30 percent less than that of ordinary corn, so its planting prospects are very good.

4. Colored corn

Colored corn is actually a very ordinary hybrid corn, and corn colors nowadays are no longer single. There are yellow corn, black corn, purple corn, white corn, and corn of various colors growing together. This coloring is inherited through hybridization and has nothing to do with spraying chemicals later. Black corn in particular can be said to be a very healthful food.

5. High-oil corn

High-oil corn is a kind of corn used for pressing oil, and it has a relatively high oil content. We all know that corn oil is available on the market, but it is actually quite difficult to press oil from ordinary corn, and the amount of corn needed to press one jin of oil is very large. The emergence of high-oil corn just meets this condition for oil pressing, but at present this kind of corn is still basically very rare in our country.

6. Popcorn

Popcorn is, simply put, the corn used to make popcorn. After this corn is exposed to high temperatures, it pops. We can add seasonings according to our own taste, and this is the raw material of a very popular trendy snack on the market at present. The planting scale of this kind of corn in our country is becoming larger and larger, mainly thanks to its market demand.