CHAPTER ONE
Of all the plant on which man has depended for his food, cereal grains are by far the most important. Since recorded history, cereals grains are the seed by cultivated grasses that include wheat, corn, 0at, barley, rye, rice, sorghum and millet.
There are a number of reasons why cereals have been important in man’s diet. They can be grown in areas with diverse climatic and soil conditions. They give yield peracre (0.4ha) as compared to most other crops and once harvested, their excellent storage stability combined with their high nutritive valuers make them most suitable for storage.
They are easy to be packaged and transported and can be used to produce a large variety of high desirable foods both for man and animals.
Cereal grains are the most important source of the world’s total food. The grains are eaten in many ways, sometimes as a paste or other preparation of the seeds more often milled and further processed into flour, starch, oil, bran, syrup, sugar, etc. They are also used to feed the animals that provide us with meat, eggs, millet, butter, cheese and a host of other foods. Cereals grains are preserved in ways which make them to last long for processing.
The group name cereals embraces among others of the following, maize, sorghum, millet, rice, wheat, and cotton seed.
Maize grain is larger than other cereals, possessing a broad apex and a narrow base. The starching endosperm, germ and large scutellum are contained with a hull comprising the pericarp and test a. the starch endosperm is of two types.
Maize is a good source of vitamin B but is deficient in vitamin A, B3, C and in vitamin D, expect for germinated grains and yellow corn which has more of vitamin C and carotene respectively. Maize is often used as animal folder, but a variety known as yellow corn is grown widely for human consumption. It is eaten fresh, canned, frozen and corn meal breakfast etc.
Sorghum is known as guinea corn in West Africa, Kaffir corn in South Africa, Ntama in East Africa and Dura in the North-Eastern part of Africa. The seed is spherical in shape and smaller than maize. It ranks second to maize in total available energy among the cereal grains. Sorghum and milet are the source of energy and protein to humanity. They serve as staple food in many parts of Africa, Asia, Central America and the Arab countries of the middle East and also serve as the main source of beverages in some countries.
This is used throughout the cotton belt region to feed live stock. It contains harmful product, gossypol, which is removed when the seed is processed into flour mixtures an meals.
Rice Oryza Sativa is an annual grass of the Graminea family which also includes wheat. It is even more important than wheat as far as world wide direct utilization is concerned. It is the source of energy to humanity.
A grain of wheat is roughly barrel shaped, with a longitudinal groove. The outer covering or bran is tough and indigestible. It contains a high proportion of protein and vitamins and it is used worldwide. Wheat is the most popular cereal grain. The principal vitamins in wheat grains are the B group vitamin.
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