World production and grain composition of major cultivated species

Context

Out of crops raised for their seed/grains (listed under 35 species, by FAO; FAOSTAT, 2014), only 22 species are produced in substantial amounts. Species of graminae and leguminosae families alone account for about 85 percent of the total grain production. As presented here in Table 1.

Production

(\#tab:world-production)Global production of major cultivated crops
Crop	Crop species	World production^[Average of 2011 to 2014, FAOSTAT (2016)] (1000 t)
Poaceae
Maize	Zea mays L.	950394
Rice	Oryza sativa L.	733424
Wheat	Triticum spp.	700828
Barley	Hordeum vulgare L.	138252
Sorghum	Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench	58647
Millet^[May include members of other genera such as Pennisetum, Papspalm, Setoria and Echinochla]	Panicum miliaceum L.	26528
Oat	Avena sativa L.	22639
Rye	Secale cereale L.	14906
Triticale	X Triticosecale Wittm ex A. Camus	14653
Fabaceae
Soybean	Glycine max (L.) Merrill	272426
Groundnut^[In the shell]	Arachis hypogaea L.	41366
Bean^[Also includes other species of Phaseolus and, in some countries, Vigna species.]	Phaseolus vulgaris L.	23898
Chickpea	Cicer arietinum L.	12735
Pea, dry^[May include P. arvense (field pea).]	Pisum sativum L.	11013
Cowpea	Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.	6661
Lentil	Lens culinaris Medikus	4831
Broad bean	Vicia faba L.	4332
Pigeon pea	Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.	4454
Others^[Rapeseed is in the Brassicaceae, sunflower and safflower are in the Asteraceae, and sesame is in Pedaliaceae.]
Rapeseed^[May include industrial and edible (canola) types, data from some countries includes mustard (Brassica juncea (L.) Czern, et Coss)]	Brassica napus L., B campestris L.	67789
Sunflower	Helianthus annuus L.	40931
Sesame	Sesamum indicum L.	4738
Safflower	Carthamus tinctoris L.	776

Grain composition

(\#tab:grain-comp)Global production of major cultivated crops
Crop	Crop species	Harvested unit	Seed carbohydrate (g_per_kg)	Seed oil (g_per_kg)	Seed protein (g_per_kg)
Poaceae
Maize	Zea mays L.	Caryopsis	800	50	100
Rice	Oryza sativa L.	Caryopsis	880	20	80
Wheat	Triticum spp.	Caryopsis	750	20	120
Barley	Hordeum vulgare L.	Caryopsis^[Harvested grain usually includes the lemma and palea]	760	30	120
Sorghum	Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench	Caryopsis	820	40	120
Millet^[May include members of other genera such as Pennisetum, Papspalm, Setoria and Echinochla]	Panicum miliaceum L.	Caryopsis	690	50	110
Oat	Avena sativa L.	Caryopsis^[Harvested grain usually includes the lemma and palea]	660	80	130
Rye	Secale cereale L.	Caryopsis	760	20	120
Triticale	X Triticosecale Wittm ex A. Camus	Caryopsis	594	18	131
Fabaceae
Soybean	Glycine max (L.) Merrill	Non-endospermic seed	260	170	370
Groundnut^[In the shell]	Arachis hypogaea L.	Non-endospermic seed	120	480	310
Bean^[Also includes other species of Phaseolus and, in some countries, Vigna species.]	Phaseolus vulgaris L.	Non-endospermic seed	620	20	240
Chickpea	Cicer arietinum L.	Non-endospermic seed	680	50	230
Pea, dry^[May include P. arvense (field pea).]	Pisum sativum L.	Non-endospermic seed	520	60	250
Cowpea	Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.	Non-endospermic seed	570	10	250
Lentil	Lens culinaris Medikus	Non-endospermic seed	670	10	280
Broad bean	Vicia faba L.	Non-endospermic seed	560	10	230
Pigeon pea	Cajanus cajan L. Millsp.	Non-endospermic seed	560	20	250
Others^[Rapeseed is in the Brassicaceae, sunflower and safflower are in the Asteraceae, and sesame is in Pedaliaceae.]
Rapeseed^[May include industrial and edible (canola) types, data from some countries includes mustard (Brassica juncea (L.) Czern, et Coss)]	Brassica napus L., B campestris L.	Non-endospermic seed	190	480	210
Sunflower	Helianthus annuus L.	Cypsela	480	290	200
Sesame	Sesamum indicum L.	Non-endospermic seed	190	540	200
Safflower	Carthamus tinctoris L.	Cypsela	500	330	140

References

Page 3 and 4, Seed Biology and Yield of Grain Crops, 2nd Edition

Seed growth rate of major cultivated crops

Context

(\#tab:smr-vegetables)Seed growth rate of common cultivated crop species
Crop	Number of cultivars	Seed growth rate_mean (mg per seed per day)	Seed growth rate_range (mg per seed per day)	Effective filling period_mean (day)	Effective filling period_range (day)	Maximum size_mean (mg per seed)	Maximum size_range (mg per seed)
Cereals:
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)	26	1.4	2.1-1.0	29	45-19	41	55-23
Barley (Horedum vulgare L.)	13	1.6	2.4-0.6	25	43-18	38	50-22
Rice (Oryza sativa L.)	12	1.2	2.0-0.9	24	36-12	28	50-20
Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench.)	9	0.9	1.9-0.4	23	42-20	28	37-19
Maize (Zea mays L.) (inbreds)	22	7.4	9.7-3.6	31	39-23	228	322-86
Maize (Zea mays L.) (hybrids)	10	8.8	10.4-7.0	35	41-23	302	410-229
Legumes:
Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)	21	6.8	14.7-3.6	29	46-13	202	484-84
Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)	20	18.9	33.1-10.2	18	24-14	345	540-190
Pea (Pisum sativum L.)	5	10.5	14.3-5.6	22	35-12	195	224-150
Field pea (P. arvense)	2	9.5	13.0-6.0	25	32-18	211	232-190
Broad bean (Vicia faba L.)	3	36.9	55.0-20.0	31	57-16	1104	2017-414
Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp)	3	8.4	12.2-4.4	8	9.0-7.0	73	122-32
Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea)	2	12.8	14.0-11.6	44	45-43	563	626-500
Oil seeds:
Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.)	2	0.2	0.3-0.2	31	35-27	8	8.0-7.0
Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.)	7	1.6	2.0-1.2	34	48-30	54	75-39

References

Page 46, Seed Biology and Yield of Grain Crops, 2nd Edition

Color charts: An introductory review on applications to qualitative crop phenotyping

Background

Colorimetry is a fascinating topic to discuss. In conjunction with the patterns of a natural world (See this awesome video about fibonacci numbers and plants), colors could have mesmerizing feels. In this post and the follow-up article, we will discuss in details about colorimetric features of a universe made of plants, in particular, which are cultivated/adopted and have edible human values – the agricultural crops. Then again, there are quite a large number of agricultural species to deal with. So, we will be making a touch down on some common crop species, i.e. Pea (Pisum sativum, wild counterpart of the famous Lathyrus pea studied by Mendel) and Wheat (Triticum aestivum).

Maize seed value chain

Introduction

There are a great deal of influencers along the chain of generating finished seed material from a produce offered by farmers. As we discussed earlier in this post, the process takes on a fairly complex pathway while certification and processing requirements are being met. Carrying out the process requires resources, a large amount of them. This post tries to quantitatively explain a general expense scheme of a typical company in Maize seed business (Note, however, that the concepts generalize well to both Hybrid and OP seeds). So why approach to business management through the cost concept? I’ll just bullet point some of the direct benefits of thinking quantitatively.

Seed multiplication ratio and its significance in production planning

Context

SMR of Cereal crops

SMR of vegetable crops

(\#tab:smr-vegetables)Seed multiplication ratio of common vegetable crops
SN	Crop	Seed rate (per ha)	Seed yield	Seed Multiplication Ratio
1	Broad leaf mustard	600	600	1000.0
2	Bottle gourd	5000	160	32.0
3	Bitter gourd	5000	120	24.0
4	Broccoli	600	600	1000.0
5	Carrot	5000	600	120.0
6	Cabbage (Drum head)	600	800	1333.3
7	Cabbage (Golden acre)	600	700	1166.7
8	Cauliflower (Kathmandu local)	500	300	600.0
9	Cauliflower (Snowball)	500	240	480.0
10	Stringy beans	20000	600	30.0
11	Hot pepper	1000	160	160.0
12	Chenopodium	10000	700	70.0
13	Cucumber	3000	100	33.3
14	Pole bean	30000	800	26.7
15	Bush bean	80000	800	10.0
16	Knolkhol	1000	800	800.0
17	Onion	10000	500	50.0
18	Pea	100000	1000	10.0
19	Pumpkin	5000	160	32.0
20	Radish (White neck)	6000	800	133.3
21	Radish (Minnow early)	6000	500	83.3
22	Capsicum	1000	100	100.0
23	Squash	10000	200	20.0
24	Sponge gourd	5000	200	40.0
25	Swisschard	20000	800	40.0
26	Spinach	15000	500	33.3
27	Tomato	500	100	200.0
28	Turnip	5000	800	160.0
29	Watermelon	4000	100	25.0
30	Onion (For western mid hills)	10000	800	80.0

References

Adapted from Nepali writing of document on Seed production technology of major vegetable crops cultivated in Nepal (Basanta Chalise and Dr. Tul Bahadur Pun). Authors cite: FAO, 1984 for their tabulation.