Which would create a more acute dietary shortage for human beings: the loss of monocot crops or the loss of dicot

Question

crops? What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

ANSWER: While the loss of either would be devastating, the loss of monocots would have the more
immediate impact. Monocots represent our grass crops - wheat, rice, corn, oats, barley, and
the like. These plants provide the majority of the calories for most of the people on the
planet, not to mention food for many of the animals we cultivate. The loss of legumes, peas
and lentils would be devastating from a protein perspective, but not as immediate as the loss
of monocots.