Corn has been around since Humans have started agriculture. This was roughly 10,000 years ago. Corn has evolved much since then because it has been domesticated. This means that the people who plant the corn pick which kernels they want to plant that will get them the best product. When corn first started out, it was on very small cobs and the plants that it grew on were short. This meant that on a few plants you would get less cobs, and on these less cobs you would get less kernels. This was not good for the amount of corn needed so when farmers realized that some plants were taller or had bigger cobs so they tried to plant these ones. Today corn stalks are very large and the cobs that come off of them yield much greater amounts of corn. There are also other factors that humans used domestication of corn to improve. These include making corn that grows in almost any climate and kernel shape/ color. Corn used to be one trait but humans selected the trait they wanted and grew these plants.
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/variation/corn/
I never knew corn was around that long. And i would have never expected that people picked through the kernels.
ReplyDeleteSo this is an awesome example of artificial selection. I wonder if there are still kernels of that old corn in a seed bank somewhere or if it is extinct (so-to-speak). We have lost a lot of species of fruits and vegetables because humans are so picky about what we eat.
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