Question

Which of the following is a pseudo-cereal crop
A) Maize/Zea mays
B) Barley/Hordeum vulgare
C) Buckwheat/Fagopyrum esculentum
D) Rice/Oryza sativa

Answer 1

A crop is a plant or animal product that can be grown and harvested for profit. Most crops are harvested as food for humans and fodder for livestock.

Complete answer:
Pseudo-cereal crop:

Pseudo-cereal are neither grasses nor true cereal grains.
They are the plants that produce fruits or seeds which are used and consumed as grains.
Pseudo-cereals are tiny, grain like seeds of dicotyledonous plant species.
Pseudo-cereals are high in proteins and other nutrients such as carbohydrates.
The seed of pseudo-cereal crops can be ground into flour and can be used as seed.
Example – Buckwheat, Quinoa, Breadnut, Chia, etc.
All pseudo-cereals are non grass plants produced.
Pseudo-cereals are consumed as cereals.
They have high nutritional value.
They can be use as a supplement or they may be completely replace common cereal grains such as rice, wheat as staple food sources

Additional information:
Health benefits of pseudo-cereals:

Pseudo-cereals contain higher nutritional value than cereal grains in terms of quality of proteins, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.
Pseudo-cereals do not contain gluten protein which is present in the cereal grains.
The lipid content of pseudo-cereals is higher than that of other cereal grains.
Therefore, we have seen in the above discussion that BuckWheat / Fagopyrum esculentum is a pseudo-cereal crop.

Hence, option C is the correct answer.

Note: Pseudo-cereals are different from cereal grain as pseudo-cereals are the dicotyledonous and cereal grains are monocotyledonous. Greens leaves or parts of the pseudo-cereals can be used as nutritive leafy vegetables but the grass cereals contain higher non-starch polysaccharide, so they are unsuitable for use in humans.