of all the things that live and grow, grass is the most important

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    2007

    OF ALL THE THINGS THAT LIVE AND GROW GRASS IS THE MOSTIMPORTANT

    According to The Agricultural Dictionary (Harren 1991), a grass is a plantbelonging to the Graminae family; they are flowering plants with long narrowleaves, and tubular stems. They include pasture grasses, cereals, weeds, bambooand sugarcane. Most grass photosynthesize using the C4 pathway where thecarbon dioxide used in the process is stored in a four carbon compound before itis used to build up carbohydrates. This pathway is known to be more efficient thanthe C3 pathway and plants that use this pathway are known to yield morebiomass than those that use the C3 pathway, given the same exposure to the sun.Besides photorespiration in cereals takes place at a higher temperature and light

    intensity than in C3 plants.

    Grasses are also known to grow in diverse ecosystems; swarms and deserts, PolarRegions and hot tropical areas, rocky lands, cold snowy mountains and semi aridareas. There are numerous reasons assert to the fact grasses are the mostimportant among all the things that live and grow. Some of these reasons areexplained as follows:

    Firstly, grasses are a source of food for many organisms including birds, farmanimals and humans. Majority of human staple foods are made from cereals whichare also grasses. Not only the staple foods but also there are non staple foods that

    are obtained from grasses, examples include: flour from wheat, and corn formaking bread and other pastries, pates and porridge, sugarcane for making sugarand ethanol which is used as a fuel as well as for domestic and industrialpurposes, beer from corn, barley, sorghum and many others. Malt from thesecereals are also used for beverages (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and forbreakfast drinks and animal feed. Ruminants and non-ruminant herbivores whichconstitute the majority of human domesticated animals also have the bulk oftheir food from grasses as well; they have it in the form of fresh grass, dried grasshay, silage and crop residues from harvested fields. The animals themselvesbecome food for man. Thus both directly and indirectly and indirectly, man has hisfood from grasses.

    Again, purify the air by taking in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and bringingout oxygen as a by-product of the process of photosynthesis, and this oxygen isused by living organisms.

    Furthermore, Grasses serves to conserve the soil; when a piece of land is coveredwith grass, it prevents the runoff of rain water which removes the top soil in aprocess called erosion. It also prevents leaching away of the soil nutrients.Grasses also have a fibrous root system that binds the soil particles together thus

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    improving the soil structure. Grasses serve as amenity for life when they aregrown as lawns to beautify the landscape to play an important part inconservation and recreation as well as for sporting activities.

    Also, grasses are used in making furniture, example armchairs, tables, beds andso on which are made from Bamboo and cane and these make life more

    comfortable for man. They are also very important because they are used to roofbuildings and farm houses to complete shelter making and to provide a coolenvironment for humans and farm animals.

    Fifthly, grasses are a source of raw material for the industries for the making ofbags, baskets, baskets, local fans, art ware and many others. A typical example isthe use of the panicle (the long flexible structure which grow apically and carriesthe inflorescence in guinea grass), which is pulled out of the grass and theinflorescence is cut off at the pedicel. It is left to dry and used to weave the abovelisted items in the rural industry.

    Finally, grasses are used for agricultural purposes, including mulching the soil toconserve water during the dry season. Grasses in their dry state also serve aslitter for keeping poultry and other farm animals in the deep litter system ofintensive and semi-intensive animal husbandry. As an added benefit when thislitter has absorbed the moisture in the droppings of poultry and other animals,they can be used as manure to fertilizer the soil. Certain animals like rabbits usethe dried grass litter to make nurseries for their young. Green manure which ismake by allowing plants to grow and the ploughing them back into the soil whenthey have reached the peak of vegetative growth, is also done using grasses.

    Plants in general are very important and indispensible to life on earth because

    they store the energy of the sun in chemical bonds in a manner that other livingorganisms can take and use. Grasses have shown themselves by the abovereasons and more that they are the most important. In ecological terms grasseshave carved a niche for themselves here on earth, one which can never be filledby any other family of plants or living creatures. AMONG ALL THE THINGS THATLIVE AND GROW, GRASS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT. It is not surprising thereforethat on every single continent on earth , there is at least one natural grassland;for instance the Steppes of Asia, Prairies of North America, Pampas, Llanos andCerrados of South America, The Downs or Rangelands of Australasia, and theSavanna and Velds of Africa.

    REFERENCESWorld book Inc. (2001) The World Book Encyclopedia, vol. 8

    ICRISAT center, (November 1987). International Workshop on Sorghum StemBorers, India.

    Halley R. L., et al, (1982) The Agricultural Notebooks, London, ButterworthScientific.

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    Dalal-Clayton D. B. (1985) Black's Agricultural Dictionary 2nd edition, London, A &C. Black,

    Herren R. V. et al, (1991) The Agriculture Dictionary, Pelmar publishers Inc.

    P. S.The author can be contacted personally as follows:Tel. [email protected] or [email protected]

    mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]