Question

Which of the following cultivated crop is non-tillering in nature?

• A. Rice
• B. Wheat
• C. Maize
• D. Bajra

Hint:

- Tillering Cereals: Rice, Wheat, Barley, Oats, Bajra, Sorghum.
- Non-Tillering Cereal: Maize (single robust culm per plant, requiring uniform seed spacing).

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Concept:
Tillering is a physiological branching habit characteristic of many species in the grass family (Poaceae), wherein auxiliary side shoots (tillers) emerge from the basal nodes located near the soil surface.
Cereal crops exhibit distinct plant architectures: some produce multiple productive tillers per seedling, while others have a single, unbranched central stalk.
This trait strongly influences optimal seeding rates, planting geometry, and intercultural operations.

Step 1: Examining Tillering Crops:
- Rice (Oryza sativa): A profusely tillering cereal, producing $10\text{--}25$ tillers per hill under irrigated conditions.
- Wheat (Triticum aestivum): Characterized by strong tillering capacity; each plant typically produces $4\text{--}8$ tillers during the crown root initiation (CRI) and tillering stages.
- Bajra Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum): A tillering grass that readily produces secondary productive and basal tillers from its base.

Step 2: Examining Non-Tillering Crops:
- Maize (Zea mays): Characterized by a stout, solitary, unbranched, solid stem (culm) with a single main shoot terminate in a tassel.
It exhibits strong apical dominance and generally does not produce basal tillers under normal agronomic conditions (except for occasional weak side suckers under abnormal nutrient/space conditions).

Step 3: Final Answer:
Thus, Maize is classified as a non-tillering cultivated cereal, corresponding to option (C).