University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Doctoral Documents from Doctor of Plant Health Plant Health Program, Doctor of Program Spring 5-6-2016 A Brief History of Corn: Looking Back to Move Forward Jon Derek Pruitt University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/planthealthdoc Part of the Agricultural Education Commons, Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Entomology Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Breeding and Genetics Commons, and the Plant Pathology Commons Pruitt, Jon Derek, "A Brief History of Corn: Looking Back to Move Forward" (2016). Doctoral Documents from Doctor of Plant Health Program. 7. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/planthealthdoc/7 This Doctoral Document is brought to you for free and open access by the Plant Health Program, Doctor of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Documents from Doctor of Plant Health Program by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. A Brief History of Corn: Looking Back to Move Forward By Jon Derek Pruitt A Doctoral Document Presented to the Faculty of The College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Plant Health Under the Supervision of Professor Gary L. Hein Lincoln, Nebraska May 2016 ABSTRACT Maize was domesticated from teosinte in Mexico some 7,000 to 10,000 years ago and quickly spread through the Americas. It has become one of the most important crops at a local and global level. Two types, Northern Flint corn and Southern Dent corns provided the basis of the genetic background of modern maize hybrids.