Mardanie

Hi Daniela

I looked at your wikipedia entry and you really made a lot of changes. You made the structure very much clearer than it was before and I really like this new structure. In the introduction your wrote tigernut (all together), later in the text you have it sometimes together or apart. I suggest to make that uniform in the text. I will write my suggestions into your text in bold, so that you can see what I mean.

Biology

It is an annual or perennial plant, growing to 90 cm tall, with solitary stems growing from a tuber. The plant reproduces by seeds The plant is reproduced by seeds and has creeping rhizomes and tubers.(I would take this sentecnce down to the sentence: ...oval seeds surrounded...) , creeping rhizomes and tubers. The stems are triangular in section and bear slender leaves 3–10 mm wide. The spikelets of the plant are distinctive, with a cluster of flat, oval seeds surrounded by four hanging, leaf-like bracts positioned 90 degrees from each other. They are 5 to 30 mm long and linear to narrowly elliptic with pointed tips and 8 to 35 florets. The colour varies between straw – colored to gold – brown. They can produce up to 2420 seeds per plant. The plant foliage is very tough and fibrous and is often mistaken for a grass. The roots are an extensive and complex system of fine, fibrous roots and scaly rhizomes with small hard, spherical tubers and basal bulbs attached. The tubers are between 0.3 – 1.9 cm in diameter and the colours vary varies between yellow, brown and black. One plant can produce several hundred to several thousand tubers during a single growing season. With cool temperatures foliage, roots, rhizomes and basal bulbs die. But the tubers survive and resprout the following spring when soil temperatures remain above 6°C. They can resprout up to several years later. When the tubers germinate, many rhizomes are initiated and end in a basal bulb near the soil surface. These basal bulbs initiate the stems and leaves above ground, and fibrous roots underground. C. esculentus is wind pollinated and requires cross pollination, as it is self–incompatible.

Cultivation

Climate requirements

Tiger nut cultivation needs a mild climate.Change structure of the sentence (?): For the tigernut cultivation, a mild climate is needed. Low temperature, shading I think for this context you have to use the word shadow and light intensity can inhibit flowering . Tuber initiation is inhibited by high levels of nitrogen, long photoperiods and high levels of gibberellic acid. Flower initiation occurs under photoperiods of 12 – 14 hours per day.

Soil requirements

Tubers can develop in soil depths of around 30 cm, but most occur in the top or upper part. They tolerate many soil conditions including periods of drought and I would delete the and flooding and survive soil temperatures around -5°C. They grow best on sandy soils with moisture structure of the sentence: They grow best on sandy, moist soils which contents... contents and a pH between 5.0 – 7.5. They do not tolerate salinity.

Agronomy

Cultivation Management

Planting I am not sure if I would use the verb planting in this context is normally done on flat soils fields,where ridges to favour the coming irrigations have previously been done structure of the sentence is not correct. The Separation between ridges is approximately 60 cmsdelete the s and seeds are planted manually. Distances between seeds may vary from 15 to 20 cms delete s and seeding depth is around 8 cms delete s. The normal ratio of Tigernuts no capitalization here used as seeds for planting is around 200/300 Kg tubers/ha. They are planted between april and may during April and May and must have to be be irrigated every week until they are harvested in November and December november or december. Tubers develop about 6 – 8 weeks after seedling emergence,delete the comma and grow quickly during July and August july and august. It will mature in approximately 90 - 110 days The maturing is around ...days. . The Average yield can approach between 10 and 19 t/ha. Weeds need to be removed weekly during the growing stage, as they could cause a reduction on Tigernut no capitals here size. The fields must have to be fertilized before planting, by using natural fertilizers such as manure or compost. Thus, the soil will recuperate its nutrients.

Harvest and Drying process

Harvest usually occurs in November or December november or december and the leaves..... Leaves are scorched during the harvest. A harvester With a combine harvester, the tigernut is pulled out of the ground. then comes along and lifts the tiger nut out of the ground. Immediately after harvesting, the Tigernuts tigernuts are washed with water in order to remove any delete any sand and small stones. The drying is usually sun or: The drying occus usually in the sun and can take up to three months - dries and can take up to three month. Temperature and humidity levels are carefully monitored during this period. The temperatures and humidity levels have to be monitored very carefully during this period. The Tigernuts (no capitals) are turned over ...have to be turned every... every day to ensure uniform drying. The drying process ensures a longer shelf - time shelf-live. This prevents rot or other bacterial infections, securing quality and high nutritious level nutrition levels. Disadvantages in the drying process are shrinkage, skin wrinkler and hard nut texture by dehydration.

Storage

Tiger nut Tigernut loses a considerable amount of water during drying and storage. The starch content of tiger nut ...of the tigernut tubers... tubers decreases and the reducing sugar (invert sugar) content take the bracket expression over here, makes it easier to read increases during storage. Tiger nut tigernut can be stored dry and rehydrated by soaking, without losing the crisp texture. Soaking is usually an overnight operation and is important in the processing process for of some foods,delete comma here such as legumes, grains, delete comma and some vegetables, because use another linking word, for example: due to the fact...it reduces the time necessary to reach the required texture during cooking. A common characteristic of dried tiger nut tigernut is a hard texture and low moisture content; I would make a fullstop here therefore, soaking is indispensable to render them edible with ease and to ensure acceptable sensory quality.

Appearance as an invasive weed

C.esculentus is known as one of the world’s worst weeds. It is a weed of for over 21 crops in more than 30 countries around the world. The plant is extremely difficult to remove completely from lawns and gardens, where it is considered an intrusive weed. This is, due to the plant having a stratified and layered root system, with tubers and roots being interconnected to a depth of 36 cm or more. The tubers are connected by fragile roots that are prone to snapping when pulled, making the root system difficult to remove intact. Intermediate rhizomes can potentially reach a length of 60 cm. The plant can quickly regenerate if a single tuber is left in place. In its competition for light, water and nutrients it can reduce crop yields and compromise quality. It can develop into a dense colony of around 3 meters or more in diameter?. Patch boundaries can increase by more than one meter per year. Tubers and seed disperse with agricultural activities, soil movement,delete the comma and write or by... by water and wind. They are often known as a contaminant in crop seeds. When plants are small, they are hard to distinguish from other weeds such as Dactylis glomerata and Elytrigia repens. Thus, it is hard to discover in an early stage and therefor hard to combat combat is a little bit a strange word for this use, I would use counteract. Once it is detected, there were tried I would delete"there were tried" many options for combating this weed, such as mechanical, by hand, grazing, damping and herbicides, change the end of the sentence, because it doesn't fit to the beginning. Suggestion: ....damping and herbicide were used. Up to know, nobody.... but till today nobody found the ultimate solution. The weed grows on low, frequently flooded ground, in moist fields, the pm margins of riverbanks, ponds, and delete and lakes, bogs, marshes, swamps, in irrigated and delete and dryland crop fields, gardens, pastures, turfgrasses, ornamental landscapes, along roadsides, delete the comma and in ditches.

Similar native or non-native species that could (can) confuse identification

• Sedges (Cyperus) have grass - like grass-like leaves and resemble each other in the appearance. They can mainly be distinguished from grasses by their triangular stems.

• Purple nutsedge (Cyperus rotundus) is another weedy sedge that is similar to the yellow nutsedge (Cyperus esculentus). These two sedges are difficult to distinguish from each other and can be found growing on the same site. Some differences are the purple spikelets, and the tubers formed by C.rotondus are often multiple instead of just one at the tip. In addition, the tubers have a bitter taste instead of the mild almond - like flavour of C.esculentus.

If you have any questions about my corrections, please feel free to ask. Cheers, Svenja

Dear Daniela

You improved the existing Wikipedia entry a lot. First of all I mention the structure, which is much clearer and it’s easier to find the important information. I only have a few suggestions to make how to improve it.

History: It’s a short part which contains all the important information. There is only one space missing between “orally,as an”.

Biology: At the end you write that this plant is self-incompatible. It would be very nice if you either make the link to the entry about this topic or you explain very short what the meaning is of that.

Cultivation: A point is missing between “flowering” and the reference 5.

Agronomy: You write “60 cms”. I think that you should delete the s of cms at the end (there are several s to delete). I think it would be good if you find a consistent way of writing tigernut. You wrote it in different ways.

I really liked to read your text. It is very interesting and the information is presented in a nice way.

Best regards, Sabine — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sabinemue (talk • contribs) 21:06, 20 November 2012 (UTC)