Field crops of Costa Rica

Cacao

I. Taxonomy

- Family Sterculiaceae, Theobromacacao.

- Originated in South America, movedto Central America, used by theMaya as early as 400 BCE.

II. Description

- Plant: small evergreen tree to 4–8 m. The leaves are alternate, entire, unlobed,measuring 10-40 centimetres in length and 5-20 centimetres in width. Plantrequires a humid climate, with regular rainfall and good soil, and is therefore aprevalent tropical crop. Cacao grows best with overhead shade. A tree begins tobear fruit after 4 or 5 years.

- Flowers: Cauliflorious - clusters of flowers are borne directly upon the trunk andolder branches. They are small, only 1–2 cm. in diameter, with pink calyx.

- Pollination: Insect pollinated. The pollination is notoriously inefficient – out of6,000 flowers, only 20 or so fruit pods set. Pollination is a major factor affectingcacao yield.

- Fruit: Incorrectly called a pod, fruit are pepo-like berries. Ovoid in shape,averaging 15 – 30 cm. in length and 8 – 10 cm. in width. The fruit changes to ayellow or red shade as it ripens, totalling in at 500 g. Each fruit contains 20 – 60seeds, called beans, embedded in a sweet white pulp.

III. Food value, usage

- Cocoa beans contain a high percentage of fat, in the form of cocoa butter; alsocontain 25% protein. The majority of the most useful proteins are lost or convertedduring processing.

- In ancient Mayan and Aztec cultures, cacao was primarily used as a beverage. TheAztecs would mix the powder with chili, maize, and annatto, resulting in a bitterhot drink. The beverage form of chocolate was brought over to Europe by theSpaniards and only became popular during the 17 century, when it was preparedth

with vanilla, sugar, and cinnamon.- Cacao beans contain theobromine, a stimulant alkaloid with a mood improving

effect. - Cacao beans have three main products—cocoa liquor, powder, and butter. The nibs

from the inner part of the bran can be mixed with cocoa butter and sugar to producechocolate — the primary use of the plant worldwide.

- Cacao peptin, a substance from the pulp of the cacao pod, is used in the productionof jam and marmalade, and cocoa butter has a history of usage in cosmetics.

Field crops of Costa Rica

Coffee

I. Taxonomy

- Family Rubiaceae, Coffea arabica (Arabica) andC. canephora (Robusta). Arabica – higherquality and price than robusta.

- Originated in Ethiopia, first cultivated in 6 -th

century Yemen. Now, coffee is the world’s 2nd

most traded commodity (oil = 1 )st

II. Description

- Plant: an evergreen shrub or small tree to 3 m incultivation. Plants can live 50-70 years, but arepruned back each 4-7 years. Leaves are darkgreen, ovoid, opposite, with prominent veins.Arabica grows best at high altitudes with deep soil, robusta can be grown at lowerelevation.

- Flowers: White, fragrant, 5 petals, similar to jasmine. Flowers are numerous ateach node. Flowering begins at 2-3 years.

- Pollination: Arabica is self-pollinating, robusta cross-pollinated. Flowers of bothare wind and insect pollinated.

- Fruit: Purple-red berries each contain 2 seeds (except “peaberry = 1 seed),referred to as “coffee beans”; fruit incorrectly called cherries or drupes.

III. Food value, usage

- The most popular use of coffee is as abeverage. Coffee beans are extractedfrom fruit either wet or dry processing;you will see the former in Costa Rica.Roasting is a science and art, andproduces the distinctive flavor andaroma compounds.

- Arabica coffee contains about 1.2%caffeine, robusta about 2%. Solvent,water, or supercritical gas extraction is used to extract caffeine from green beansprior to roasting and make decaf.

- Used coffee grounds are high in N, P, K and other trace elements, and thereforemake good fertilizer. Waste from wet processing is also composted and used asfertilizer.

Field crops of Costa Rica

Maize (Corn)

I. Taxonomy

- Family Poaceae, Zea mays, (ssp.mays).

- Maize cultivation may have started asearly as 12,000 years ago in S.Mexico. The earliest cob of maizefound dates back 6,250 years. Now,maize is cultivated worldwide, withthe USA producing 50% of theworld’s harvest.

II. Description

- Plant: Large grass to 2-3 m. Thestalk has thick joints every 40-50 cm,where leaves occur. Leaves arealternate, linear, parallel-veined, withsheathing bases.

- Flower: Male and female flowers are born in separate inflorescences of hundredsof individuals; males in a tassel at the tip, females in axillary spikes, which areensheathed by leaf-like bracts.

- Pollination: Pollen falls downward upon the silks (styles); each silk strand leadsto an individual ovary, which matures into a caryopsis or grain.

- Fruit: A caryopsis; can be black, red, white, or yellow. All grains are fused to acob, or matured rachis.

III. Food value, usage

- A serving of maize contains 83 calories, 9 from fat, and 8% of the dailyrequirement of dietary fiber.

- One of the greatest uses of maize is as fodder for livestock.- Maize is used in sweeteners, such as corn syrup, and can also be used to create

ethanol.- Maize is also used for human consumption in a variety of ways, including

popcorn, sweetcorn (which can be eaten from the stalk or prepared in a myriad ofother fashions), and flour. Maize, when ground, produces far more flour with lessbran than does wheat, but it does not contain gluten and makes baked goods withpoor rising capability.

- Pod corn, also called Indian corn, is used mainly for decorative purposes.- Maize cobs are often used as a biomass source for energy production.- Corncobs are easily hollowed out and, in the past, have been used as inexpensive

smoking pipes.

Field crops of Costa Rica

Oil Palm

I. Taxonomy

- Family Arecaceae, Elaeisguineensis

- Domesticated over 5,000 yearsago

- The world’s 3 largest source ofrd

edible oil, and most importantorchard species.

II. Description

- Plant: Single-trunked palm to 20 m, only 5-10 m in cultivation. Pinnatelycompound leaves 3-5 m long, 1 m wide, arranged spirally along trunk, withpersistent boots. Fast growing - young trees produce up to 30 leaves/year.

- Flowers: Male and female flowers occur in separate inflorescences, both termeda compound spadix. Both are axillary and ensheathed by bracts (spathes). Malesare tiny, grey-brown, and females larger & less numerous, off-white.

- Pollination: Pollinated by small weevils or beetles.- Fruit: Individual fruits are drupes, with fibrous, oily mesocarp, about 2-3 cm

wide, ovoid, with black or orange-red skin color. Fruits form in axillary clustersweighing 40-50 kg. The large central stone contains an oil-rich seed.

III. Food value, usage

- About 90% of the crop is processed into edible oils from the mesocarp (palm oil),composed of 40% monosaturated fats. Palm kernel oil from the seed is 78%saturated fat, used primarily in margarine and cosmetics.

- The bases of unopened leaves and of the male inflorescences are tapped for theproduction of palm wine.

- The sludge remaining from palmoil production is used asfertilizer.

- Kernel meal goes towards thefeeding of livestock.

Field crops of Costa Rica

Rice

I. Taxonomy

- Family Poaceae, Oryza sativa(Asian), and O. glaberrima(African).

- Both domesticated at roughlythe same time, but African didnot spread as quickly orwidely, and is less commontoday.

II. Description- Plant: Short to medium height grass (60-180 cm), with linear leaves. Two types:

paddy rice (aquatic) and upland (non aquatic). Rice has a 150-day growing cycle,with a vegetative stage preceding the reproductive stage. Paddy rice requires avast amount of water compared to other grains.

- Flower: The top end of the rice stem develops a drooping panicle, a series ofspikelets with small, green flowers. The blooms disappear after pollination andbegin formation of the rice kernels in a process called heading.

- Pollination: Self-pollinating; the panicle creates both male and female flowers,achieving full pollination within 10-14 days.

- Fruit: A caryopsis or grain. Composed of a hull, bran, and endosperm. The hullis a hard covering that protects the fruit. The next layer, the bran, is composed oflayers of fibrous tissue rich in proteins, vitamins, minerals, and oil. Theendosperm is made mostly of starch, used as a nutrient for the germinating seed. The bran and endosperm are the edible parts of the rice.

III. Food value, usage

- Over half of the world’s population uses rice as an essential dietary component. Aserving of rice provides 241.8 calories, mostly from starch.

- In wet-paddy rice agriculture, the actually paddies themselves serve a dualpurpose, providing homes for animals. Some of these are food animals, such asfish and frogs, and others aid in keeping down the pest population, such as birdsand snakes.

- Burnt rice hulls are used in industries as varied as steel making, pottery, andbuilding materials.

- Rice can be converted into an alcoholic beverage, the most famous of which issake.

- Rice is used in pet food to cat litter.

-

Field crops of Costa Rica

Rubber

• Taxonomy• Family: Euphorbiaceae• Hevea brasiliensis• Originally from Brazil• It is now grow worldwide, though main

area of production is southeast Asia.

• Climatic requirements: Tapping removeslots of water from trees (latex is 60% water)

• Optimum 2-4 m of rain per year, withno dry season

• Production possible with 1.5 m ofrain and 5 months of dry season

• Too much rain will interfere withtapping process

• Elevations < 200 m• Higher elevations = cooler

temperatures• Delay growth and first tapping

• Plant: Tall (12-meter [40 ft] trees with singletrunk

• Food value, usage• No food value. Trees are tapped every

other day for their latex, beginning whentree is ~7 years old, and can be tapped fora few decades afterwards.

Field crops of Costa Rica

Sugarcane

I. Taxonomy

- Family Poaceae, Saccharumofficinarum.

- originally from southeast Asia,but now cultivatedpantropically.

- A C4 plant – highly efficientphotosynthetically; yields areamong the highest of any cropin the world.

II. Description

- Plant: Tall grass, to 8-12 ft, with pithy, sugary stalk 1-2” wide. Leaves are sharp-edged, linear, 2-4 ft long. After harvest, side shoots called “ratoons” grow in thesame site as the harvested stalk.

- Flowers: Borne in fine, highly branched terminal panicles, as with corn tassles.- Pollination, fruit: unimportant; propagation is vegetative and fruits & seeds are

not economic product

III. Food value, usage

- Refined sugar is 99.9% sucrose and, therefore, almost completely composed ofcarbohydrates.

- Bagasse, the excess fiber and crushings from stalks, is used in the production ofpaper, cardboard, fuel, fiberboards, and insulation.

- Industrial grade ethanol, used for fuel, comes from sugarcane.- Rum comes from fermented cane juice.- Molasses, the remaining liquid from the concentrated cane juice, is used in food,

explosives, and synthetic rubber.- Some cultures use sugarcane stalks as pens, mats, screens, and thatch.- Sugarcane and its byproducts also have value in some forms of folk medicine.

Field crops of Costa Rica

Wheat

I. Taxonomy

- Family Poaceae,Triticum aestivum.

- Originated in theFertile Crescent of theMiddle East over 7,000years ago.

- Widely grown incooler climate areas ofthe world; highelevations of thetropics.

II. Description

- Plant: A tall, annual grass to 1.2 m. Leaves are linear, arising alternately from thestalk. The stalk is jointed at nodes, and leaf bases ensheath it.

- Flowers: Flowers are produced on a terminal spike.- Pollination: Wheat is self-pollinating, moving from the top to the bottom of the

head.- Fruit: A caryopsis or grain; individuals are aggregated together in a head. The

outer layer of the seed is called the bran, a thick fibrous covering made to protectthe seed. The seed itself includes the wheat germ, the part of the embryo mostdensely packed with proteins and nutrients, and the endosperm, the largest part ofthe kernel.

III. Food value, usage

- The greatest use of wheat is in food, where it is ground into flour and used in theproduction of breads, pastries, and other baked goods. Wheat products havearound 100 or 110 calories per serving, with 2/3 of these in the form of complexcarbohydrates. Wheat is also a great source of protein and fiber.

- Wheat is high in gluten, a sticky protein that allows wheat to hold its form in suchfood as breads and pastas. Wheats are classified according to their glutenlevel—hard for high levels, soft for low levels.

- Low-grade grain is used for feeding livestock, and is also the source for hay.- Certain types of wheat are used in the brewing of beer.- Wheat starch is used in the sizing of textile fabrics.