Cereals

Wheat and barley were generally the offerings - called Cerealia munera after Ceres, the Roman goddess of harvest. Subsequently, the grains used for food, especially for making bread were called Cerealia or cereals. The term is applicable to the grains obtained from the members of the family Poaceae, such as rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, barley, millet, rye, oats.

Pseudocereals are plants used similarly to cereals but belonging to families other than Poaceae such as buckwheat or amaranth.

Pulses

The term pulse is used for the seeds of plants from the Fabaceae family (legumes), such as beans, pea, lentil and chickpea. Pulses supply proteins and form chief source in vegetarian food. Leguminous plants fix nitrogen in root nodules - produced with the help of nitrogen fixing bacteria.

Oils and oilseeds

Plants wits high fat amount are used to produce vegetable oils. Examples include oil palm, olive, soybean, rapeseed and sunflower.

Pastures

The grasses and legumes which are grown in arable land and left for animals to graze-on. The straw of paddy and cholam and dry plants of pulse crops and groundnut form important forages. The foliage of a number of trees and shrubs which are edible to animals form another source of forage especially in dry areas and during the periods of scarcity.

Sugars and starches

Sugar is extracted from sugarcane and sugar beet. Starch can be extracted from maize, cassava and potatoes.

Spices and condiments

Fibers

Rubbers

There are trees found in most parts of the world but mostly Africa that make or provide rubber for human uses.

Green manures and green-leaf manures

Growing of special crops for adding organic matter and nitrogen to the soil and by ploughing them in situ is called green manuring.

• Sunhemp
• Pillipesara
• Kolingi
• Indigo
• Sesbania speciosa