Grain Crops

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Grain Crops

• Topic 2085
• Josh Miller

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Crops and Use

• Grain
• Seed of a cereal grain plant
• Grain kernels have a high starch content
• Grain has been used for food for thousands of
  years
• Grain domesticated about 9,000 bc
• Kernel
• Part of an individual grain within the seed coat

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Grain Crops Grown

• Major grain crops in US
• Wheat, corn, and rice
• Other important crops
• Oats, barley, rye, grain sorghum
• World leading grain crops
• Wheat, Corn, Rice
• Corn is most important to US

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Grain Crops cont.
Grain Crop 1 2 3
Wheat Kansas North Dakota Montana
Corn Iowa Illinois Nebraska
Oats Wisconsin North Dakota Minnesota
Barley North Dakota Montana Idaho
Rice Arkansas California Louisiana
Rye Texas Georgia North Dakota
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Grain Use

• Primary used for human consumption
• Also used as animal feed which intern is consumed
  by humans
• Corn
• Most versatile grain
• Cattle, hogs, poultry
• Humans bread, chips, oil

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Uses of Selected Grains

• Corn
• Cooking oil, bread, breakfast cereal, livestock
  feed, fuel, cosmetics, medicine
• Wheat
• Bread, pasta, livestock feed, alcohol,
  manufacturing
• Rice
• Main meal, side dish, breakfast cereal
• Oats
• Breakfast cereal, livestock feed

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Uses of Selected Grain cont.

• Barley
• Malting, livestock feed
• Rye
• Bread, livestock feed
• Grain sorghum
• Livestock feed

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Selecting Crops and Varieties

• Things to consider when selecting grain crops to
  grow
• Climate
• Average weather condition over a long period of
  time
• A variety must be selected so that the crop can
  mature before it frost
• Soil and Water
• Must be within the range of the requirements of
  the crop to be grown
• Rice requires large amounts, wheat requires little

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Selecting Crops cont.

• Market
• Grain marketing includes all the processes that
  connect the producer and the consumer
• The closer the producer is to the market the
  cheaper it is to produce
• Technology
• Equipment, fertilizer, improved seed, pest
  control
• Personal skills
• Knowledge/skill of the producer
• Skill level of available labor

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Scientific Names of Selected Crops

• Corn Zea mays
• Oats Avena sativa
• Rye Secale cereale
• Wheat Triticum aestivum
• Rice Oryza sativa

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Corn Production

• 70 million acres planted each year in US
• 750,000 acres planted to sweet corn
• Average corn yield in the US is 123 bu
• Most corn grains are
• 65 carbohydrates
• 10 protein
• 25 moisture, ash, other materials

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Corn Production cont.

• Dent corn major type grown for grain
• So widely grown it is know as field corn
• Grains are flat with indentation in the crown
• Livestock feed, human use and oil products
• Flint corn more rounded than dent
• Shorter time to maturity
• Grown in Northern United States
• Floury corn soft and first corn grown in US

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Corn Production cont.

• Sweet corn planted for human use
• High sugar content and low starch content
• Popcorn food that many people enjoy as a snack
• Kernels are smaller than other corn
• Each stalk may grow several ears

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Corn Production cont.

• Varieties
• Height 2 to 20 feet average is 6 to 8
• Maturity ranges from 50 days to 330 days
• Some good for silage other better for grain
• Planting
• Occur after the threat of frost
• February in southern Texas
• Mid-May in Northern States
• Ground temperature should be at least 50
• Seeds should be planted about 2 deep

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Corn Production cont.

• Degree Days
• Is a measure of the temperature requirements for
  best corn growth
• Daily high Daily low divided by 2 minus 50
• Ex. 8060140/270-50 20 GDD
• Seedbed
• Corn is normally planted in 20 to 40 inch rows
• Normally 30 inch rows
• Plant population is the number of seeds planted
  in a acre (24,000 to 32,000)

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Corn Production cont.

• Fertilization
• Research has found that to produce 150 bu corn
  you need to apply
• 170 lbs N
• 35 lbs P2O5
• 175 lbs K2O
• Soil pH 5.0 to 8.0
• Pest control
• Pest include weeds, insects, nematodes

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Corn Production cont.

• Harvesting
• Starts when the kernel moisture is between 20
  and 28
• Corn with more than 15.5 will need to be dried
  artificially
• Should harvest to maximize yield if to late corn
  will fall and break

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Wheat Production

• Types of wheat
• Spring wheat planted in the spring, grows in
  the summer and matures in early fall
• Winter wheat planted in the fall, establishes
  itself over the winter and grows rapidly in the
  spring
• Color
• Red wheat and White wheat

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Wheat Production cont.

• Hardness
• Kernel hardness is either soft or hard
• Hardness is determined by the endosperm
• Varieties
• Selected on climate adaptations and yield
• Taller wheat sometimes goes down in wind
• Selection determined on the harshness of winter

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Wheat Production cont.

• Planting
• Important factors
• Planting date - winter wheat normally planted in
  October in the northern states
• Seedbed preparation most is planted in prepared
  seedbeds a lot like corn
• Seeding rate and depth normally seeded at 20 to
  100 pounds per acre at a depth of 1 inch

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Wheat Production cont.

• Fertilization
• A yield of 100 bu will normally require
• 120 lbs N
• 56 lbs P2O5
• 31 lbs K2O
• Pest management
• Insects and diseases are particular problems
• Harvesting
• Shattering is the point at which mature kernels
  fall form the wheat head
• Preferred moisture is 12.5

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Rice Production

• Half of the worlds population depends on rice for
  food
• Especially important in Asia and Indonesia
• Per acre yield averages about 5,534 pounds
• Grain length why to classify rice kernels
• Short, medium and long

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Rice Production cont.

• Low-land rice
• Grown in large, flat fields that are flooded by
  irrigation
• Up-land rice
• Grown in small areas on hillsides
• Seeding Rice
• Drilled into dry seed bed
• Broadcast over dry seed bed
• Broadcast into standing water

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Rice Production cont.

• Seed population
• 15 to 20 plants per square foot
• 653,000 to 871,000 per acre
• Water depth
• 2 to 4 inches deep
• If weeds are a problem water depth can be
  increased
• Water needs to be added to replace amount lost of
  evaporation

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Barley Production

• One of the oldest known grain crops
• Little is used in food
• Some used for malting
• Cattle feed
• Grain
• Forage primarily hay
• Very similar to wheat

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Oat Production

• Declined in recent years
• Replacing horses with tractors is part of the
  reason
• Even with the decline US still leading nation
• Planted in early spring in Michigan

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Rye Production

• Is a cereal grain similar to oats and barley
• About half of all rye is used for grain
• Rye grain has declined as preferences for white
  bread has increases
• Planted in the fall like wheat in Michigan