INTRODUCTION

Baby corn is a young finger like unfertilized cob of maize with two to three centimeter emerged silk (Fig.1) preferably harvested within 1-3 days of silk emergence depending upon the growing season. It can be eaten raw and included in diet in number of ways as salads, chutney, vegetables, pickles, kheer, Chinese preparations, etc.

The desirable size of baby corn is 6 to 11 cm in length and 1.0 to 1.5 cm in diameter with regular row arrangement (Fig. 2) that depends on the variety, population density and the cropping season. The most preferred colour by the consumers / exporters is generally creamish to very light yellow.

It has great potential both for internal consumption as well as for export round the year as 3-4 crops of baby corn can be taken in one year. Thailand is the major baby corn producing and exporting country in the world, while Fig2. India has emerged as one of the potential baby corn producing countries because of the low cost of production as compared to many other countries. Major baby corn producing, exporting and importing countries are mentioned in Table 1.