*1.2.2 Pineapple*

Pineapple (*Ananas comosus*) is a healthy and delicious tropical fruit that originated in South America, where early European explorers named it after a pinecone. It is rich in various minerals and vitamins especially vitamin C and manganese, which are essential for maintaining a healthy immune system and body metabolism. It can be purchased fresh, canned or frozen for a daily diet [8]. The pineapple plant consists of a crown, slip, fruit, leaf, stem and sucker as shown in **Figure 2a**. **Figure 2b** displays the graphical statistics of the worldwide production of pineapple in 2019. As reflected in **Figure 2b**, Costa Rica is the largest producer of pineapple accounting for 3.33 million metric tonnes in 2019. This is followed by the


*Estimate.*

*2 Forecast.*

*Note: Total may not add up due to rounding and exclusion of import duties. Source: Department of Statistics and Ministry of Finance, Malaysia (2021).*

#### **Table 1.**

*GDP of Malaysia by sector, 2019–2021 (at constant 2015 prices).*

*Nano-Cellulosic Fibers from Agricultural Wastes DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98637*

#### **Figure 1.**

*(a) Parts of the banana plant [7]; (b) Top 10 largest producers of banana in 2019 [6].*

**Figure 2.** *(a) Parts of pineapple [9]; (b) top 10 largest pineapple producers worldwide [10].*

Philippines, Brazil, and Thailand. The total production of pineapples in 2019 was approximately 28.18 million tonnes [10].

### *1.2.3 Corn*

Corn (*Zea mays L*.) is the third largest agricultural crops globally after wheat and rice. Almost 100% grain corns in Malaysia was imported from Brazil, Argentina and other countries. Corn are important source of foods for both humans and animals. There are plenty types of corn planted across the world, which includes dent corn, flint corn, sweet corn, popcorn, flour corn, pod corn and waxy corn. Corn is processed to prepare food and feed ingredients such as breakfast cereals, corn starch, sweeteners (high fructose corn syrup), cooking oil and lysine. Corn is also utilized in manufacturing industrial products such as ethanol and polylactic acid (PLA). The corn stems can be employed to prepare silage for ruminants [11]. While sweet corn has been traditionally popular fruit in the USA, China, and Brazil

**Figure 3.** *(a) Parts of corn plant [12]; (b) top 10 largest corn producers worldwide [10].*

(**Figure 3**), although it has recently gained popularity in numerous Asian countries including Malaysia [10]. Corn is typically yellow but comes in various other colors such as red, orange, purple, blue, white and black. Whole corn is packed with fiber and contains vitamins B and C and the elements magnesium and potassium that promote gut health and prevent digestive diseases [13].
