Preface

Maize is one of the most economically important food crops worldwide. It is used for livestock feeds and human nutrition. Oilseed crops, such as maize, have a key role in the global agricultural economy. Recent strategies and new technologies have been developed and adopted for improving maize crop production and productivity.

This book brings together recent advances, breeding strategies, and applications that have been made and applied in the field of biological control, breeding, and genetic improvement of maize genetic resources. It also provides new insights and presents new perspectives and future research work that has been carried out for further improvement of maize crops. This book is a useful resource for students, researchers, and scientists.

The book includes nine chapters.

Chapter 1, "Silicon, Potassium and Nitrogen Accumulation and Biomass in Corn under Hydroponic Conditions", evaluates the effect of the interaction of silicon, potassium, and nitrogen on the foliar area, the accumulation of these elements in the aerial part and the dry biomass in corn plants. Chapter 2, "Improved Technological Processes on the Nutritional Quality of Maize," provides insights into improved techniques such as crossbreeding, genetic cloning, and functional genomics for improving maize nutritional quality. Chapter 3, "Maize (*Zea mays*) Response to Abiotic Stress", provides useful information on abiotic stress effects on maize crop. Chapter 4, "Climate-Smart Maize Breeding: The Potential of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Symbiosis in Improving Yield, Biotic and Abiotic Stress Resistance, and Carbon and Nitrogen Sink Efficiency," discusses important information on climate smart maize breeding. Chapter 5, "Aflatoxins and Fumonisins Contamination of Maize in Bangladesh: An Emerging Threat for Safe Food and Food Security", provides results that could serve as a benchmark for monitoring mycotoxin contamination in maize. Chapter 6, "Critical Dry Spell Prediction in Rain-Fed Maize Crop Using Artificial Neural Network in Nigeria," shows how to predict critical dry spells in rain-fed maize crops using artificial neural networks. Chapter 7, "Improving Maize Shelling Operation Using Motorized Mobile Shellers: *A Step towards Reducing Postharvest Losses in Low Developing Countries*" concludes that in addition to other sheller performance attributes, motorized mobile maize shellers can solve transportation challenges associated with motorized immobile maize shellers. Chapter 8, "Advances and Trends in the Physicochemical Properties of Corn Starch Blends," describes advances and trends in the physicochemical properties of corn starch blends *Zea mays* L. Finally, Chapter 9, "The Impact of Climate Change on Changing Pattern of Maize Diseases in Indian Subcontinent: A Review", assesses the potential effects of climate change on maize pathogens and consequently on plant health.

The editor would like to thank Publishing Process Managers Iva Ribic and Milica Abeer at IntechOpen for their wholehearted cooperation in the publication of this book.
