The importance of Maize or Corn is due to its wide diversity of uses. It is used both as food for human and feed for animals.
Maize has its significance as a source of a large number of industrial products besides its uses as human food and animal feed. It is used in various forms such as – corn meal, cornflakes, popcorns, corn flour, baby corns, corn cooking oil etc. It is also a major source of starch, and a major ingredient in home cooking.
The starch, the major constituent of the corn kernel, is used in its native form or after chemical or enzymatic modification, in foods and industrial products. The starch is also converted into glucose or fructose for use as food sweetness. Glucose can be fermented in to ethanol for fuel or beverages or into many other chemicals.