Cereal germ Cereal germ The germ of a cereal is the reproductive part that germinates to grow into a plant; it is the embryo of the seed. Along with bran, germ is often a by-product of the milling that produces refined grain products. Cereal grains and their components, such as wheat germ oil, rice bran oil, and maize, may be used as a source from which vegetable oil is extracted, or used directly as a food ingredient. The germ is retained as an integral part of whole-grain foods. Non-whole grain methods of milling are intended to isolate the endosperm, which is ground
Cover crop ("Sinapis alba") and radish ("Raphanus sativus"). They can be grown after a main (cereal) crop and trap nematodes, for example the beet cyst nematode and Columbian root knot nematode. When grown, nematodes hatch and are attracted to the roots. After entering the roots they cannot reproduce in the root due to a hypersensitive resistance reaction of the plant. Hence the nematode population is greatly reduced, by 70-99%, depending on species and cultivation time. Other cover crops are used to attract natural predators of pests by providing elements of their habitat. This is a form of biological control known as habitat