Food. Forage, and fodder crops, -Wheat

Origin, Evolution, Botany, Cultivation and Uses of Food Crops

Food. Forage, and fodder crops, 

Wheat

Botanical name: Triticum aestivum

Family: Gramineae

Common Name: Gehun

Origin and Evolution

The origin of wheat is believed at Hindukush mountainous regions adjoining to India and Afghanistan. According to De Candolle Valley of Euphrates and Tigris was the origin of wheat. But Vavilov stated origin of Durum wheat is probably Abyssinia and soft wheat groups are in the region of Western Pakistan, South West Afghanistan and Southern parts of mountainous Babshara. Wheat has undergone domestication under selection pressures which changed it from a wild grass to a cultivated species with the present level of production.

Botanical characters

Wheat is an annual plant. Roots fibrous; stem erect (divided in long internodes and conspicuous nodes); leaves are alternate and with sheathing base, it can be divided into 2 parts, the sheath and the blade; inflorescence spike of spikelet; flowers axillary, zygomorphic, hypogynous, sessile and bisexual; tepals 2; stamens 3 and versatile; gynoecium tri-carpellary showing pseudo monomery, unilocular, ovary superior, parietal placentation with one ovule; fruit caryopsis and seeds endospermic.

Cultivation

Wheat is one of the oldest and most important of the cereal crops. Though grown under a wide range of climates and soils, wheat is best adapted to temperate regions with rainfall between 30 and 90 cm. Winter and spring wheats are the two major types of the crop, with the severity of the winter determining whether a winter or spring type is cultivated. Winter wheat is always sown in the fall; spring wheat is generally sown in the spring but can be sown in the fall where winters are mild. Ideal sowing time is mid-October to starting of November.

Uses

1. Wheat is eaten in various forms by more than 1000 million people in the world.

2. In India, it is second important staple food crop next to rice.

3. Soft wheat is used for making chapatee, bread, cake, biscuits, pastry and other bakery products.

4. In areas where rice is the staple cereal food, wheat is eaten in the form of

‘puris’ or in the form of ‘upma’.

5. In addition to this, wheat is also consumed in various other preparations such as ‘dalia’, ‘halwa’, ‘sweet meals’, etc.

6. In most of the urban areas of the country, the use of backed leavened bread, flakes, cakes, biscuits etc. is increasing at a fast rate.

7. Wheat straw is used as fooder, padding material and mulching material.

8. Wheat grain is used for preparing starch.