Wheat

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the plant. For other uses, see Wheat
(disambiguation).
Wheat

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Pooideae
Tribe: Triticeae
Genus: Triticum
L.
Species
T. aestivumT. aethiopicumT. araraticumT.
boeoticumT. carthlicumT. compactumT.
dimitriumT. dicoccoidesT. dicoccumT.
durumT. ispahanicumT. karamyscheviiT.
machaT. militinaeT. monococcumT.
polonicumT. speltaT. sphaerococcumT.
timopheeviiT. turanicumT. turgidumT. urartu
T. vaviloviiT. zhukovskyi

References:  Serial No. 42236 ITIS 2002-09-22

Wheat (Triticum spp.)[1] is a grass, originally from the Fertile

Crescent region of the Near East, but now cultivated
worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million
tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize
(784 million tons) and rice (651 million tons).[2] Globally,
wheat is the leading source of vegetable protein in human
food, having a higher protein content than either maize (corn)
or rice, the other major cereals. In terms of total production
tonnages used for food, it is currently second to rice as the
main human food crop, and ahead of maize, after allowing for
maize's more extensive use in animal feeds.
Wheat was a key factor enabling the emergence of city-based
societies at the start of civilization because it was one of the
first crops that could be easily cultivated on a large scale, and
had the additional advantage of yielding a harvest that
provides long-term storage of food. Wheat is a factor in
contributing to city-states in the Fertile Crescent including the
Babylonian and Assyrian empires. Wheat grain is a staple
food used to make flour for leavened, flat and steamed
breads, biscuits, cookies, cakes, breakfast cereal, pasta,
noodles, couscous[3] and for fermentation to make beer,[4]
other alcoholic beverages,[5] or biofuel.[6]
Wheat is planted to a limited extent as a forage crop for
livestock, and its straw can be used as a construction material
for roofing thatch.[7][8] The husk of the grain, separated when
milling white flour, is bran. Wheat germ is the embryo portion
of the wheat kernel. It is a concentrated source of vitamins,
minerals, and protein, and is sustained by the larger, starch
storage region of the kernel—the endosperm.

Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Origin
1.2 Farming techniques
2 Genetics
3 Plant breeding
4 Hulled versus free-
threshing wheat
5 Naming
5.1 Major cultivated
species of wheat
6 As a food
6.1 Nutrition
6.2 Health concerns
6.3 Synopsis of major
staple food
7 Commercial use
8 Production and
consumption
8.1 Farming systems
8.2 Futures contracts
8.3 Geographical
variation
9 Agronomy
 9.1 Crop development
10 Diseases
10.1 Pests
11 See also
12 References
13 Further reading
14 External links
[edit]
History
Wheat is one of the first cereals known to have been
domesticated, and wheat's ability to self-pollinate greatly
facilitated the selection of many distinct domesticated
varieties. The archaeological record suggests that this first
occurred in the regions known as the Fertile Crescent, and the
Nile Delta. These include southeastern parts of Turkey, Syria,
the Levant, Israel, and Egypt. Recent findings narrow the first
domestication of wheat down to a small region of southeastern
Turkey,[9] and domesticated Einkorn wheat at Nevalı Çori—
40 miles (64 km) northwest of Gobekli Tepe in Turkey—has
been dated to 9,000 B.C.[10] However evidence for the
exploitation of wild barley has been dated to 23,000 B.C. and
some say this is also true of pre-domesticated wheat. [11]

[edit]
Origin
Genetic analysis of wild einkorn wheat suggests that it was
first grown in the Karacadag Mountains in southeastern
Turkey. Dated archeological remains of einkorn wheat in
settlement sites near this region, including those at Abu
Hureyra in Syria, confirms the domestication of einkorn near
the Karacadag Mountain Range. The earliest carbon-14 date
for the einkorn wheat remains at Abu Hureyra is 7800 to 7500
years BCE.[12] Recent genetic and archeological discoveries
indicate that both emmer wheat and durum (hard pasta wheat)
also originated from this same Karacadag region of
southeastern Turkey. Remains of harvested emmer from
several sites near the Karacadag Range have been dated to
between 8800 and 8400 BCE, that is, in the Neolithic period.
[13]

Cultivation and repeated harvesting and sowing of the grains

of wild grasses led to the creation of domestic strains, as
mutant forms ('sports') of wheat were preferentially chosen by
farmers. In domesticated wheat, grains are larger, and the
seeds (spikelets) remain attached to the ear by a toughened
rachis during harvesting. In wild strains, a more fragile rachis
allows the ear to easily shatter and disperse the spikelets. [14]
Selection for these traits by farmers might not have been
deliberately intended, but simply have occurred because these
traits made gathering the seeds easier; nevertheless such
'incidental' selection was an important part of crop
domestication. As the traits that improve wheat as a food
source also involve the loss of the plant's natural seed
dispersal mechanisms, highly domesticated strains of wheat
cannot survive in the wild.

Cultivation of wheat began to spread beyond the Fertile

Crescent after about 8000 BCE. Jared Diamond traces the
spread of cultivated emmer wheat starting in the Fertile
Crescent about 8500 BCE, reaching Greece, Cyprus and India
by 6500 BCE, Egypt shortly after 6000 BCE, and Germany
and Spain by 5000 BCE.[15] "The early Egyptians were
developers of bread and the use of the oven and developed
baking into one of the first large-scale food production
industries." [16] By 3000 BCE, wheat had reached England,
and Scandinavia. A millennium later it reached China.

Wheat spread through out Europe and in England, thatch was

used for roofing in the bronze age, and was in common use
until the late 19th century.[17]

[edit]
Farming techniques
Technological advances in soil preparation and seed
placement at planting time, use of crop rotation and fertilizers
to improve plant growth, and advances in harvesting methods
have all combined to promote wheat as a viable crop.
Agricultural cultivation using horse collar leveraged plows (at
about 3000 BCE) was one of the first innovations that
increased productivity. Todd is a ledgend Much later, when
the use of seed drills replaced broadcasting sowing of seed in
the 18th century, another great increase in productivity
occurred. Yields of wheat per unit area increased as methods
of crop rotation were applied to long cultivated land, and the
use of fertilizers became widespread. Improved agricultural
husbandry has more recently included threshing machines
and reaping machines (the 'combine harvester'), tractor-drawn
cultivators and planters, and better varieties (see Green
Revolution and Norin 10 wheat). Great expansions of wheat
production occurred as new arable land was farmed in the
Americas and Australia in the 19th and 20th centuries.

[edit]
Genetics

Spikelets of a hulled wheat, einkorn

Wheat genetics is more complicated than that of most other
domesticated species. Some wheat species are diploid, with
two sets of chromosomes, but many are stable polyploids,
with four sets of chromosomes (tetraploid) or six (hexaploid).
[18]

▪ Einkorn wheat (T. monococcum) is diploid (AA, two

complements of seven chromosomes, 2n=14).[1]
▪ Most tetraploid wheats (e.g. emmer and durum wheat) are
derived from wild emmer, T. dicoccoides. Wild emmer is
itself the result of a hybridization between two diploid
wild grasses, T. urartu and a wild goatgrass such as
Aegilops searsii or Ae. speltoides. The unknown grass
has never been identified among now surviving wild
grasses, but the closest living relative is Aegilops
speltoides.[citation needed] The hybridization that formed
wild emmer (AABB) occurred in the wild, long before
domestication,[18] and was driven by natural selection.
▪ Hexaploid wheats evolved in farmers' fields. Either
domesticated emmer or durum wheat hybridized with yet
another wild diploid grass (Aegilops cylindrica) to make
the hexaploid wheats, spelt wheat and bread wheat.[18]
These have three sets of paired chromosomes, three
times as many as in diploid wheat.
The presence of certain versions of wheat genes has been
important for crop yields. Apart from mutant versions of genes
selected in antiquity during domestication, there has been
more recent deliberate selection of alleles that affect growth
characteristics. Genes for the 'dwarfing' trait, first used by
Japanese wheat breeders to produce short-stalked wheat,
have had a huge effect on wheat yields world-wide, and were
major factors in the success of the Green Revolution in
Mexico and Asia. Dwarfing genes enable the carbon that is
fixed in the plant during photosynthesis to be diverted towards
seed production, and they also help prevent the problem of
lodging. 'Lodging' occurs when a ear stalk falls over in the
wind and rots on the ground, and heavy nitrogenous
fertilization of wheat makes the grass grow taller and become
more susceptible to this problem. By 1997, 81% of the
developing world's wheat acreage was planted to semi-dwarf
wheats, giving both increased yields and better response to
nitrogenous fertilizer.
Wild grasses in the genus Triticum and related genera, and
grasses such as rye have been a source of many disease-
resistance traits for cultivated wheat breeding since the 1930s.
[19]

Heterosis, or hybrid vigor (as in the familiar F1 hybrids of

maize), occurs in common (hexaploid) wheat, but it is difficult
to produce seed of hybrid cultivars on a commercial scale (as
is done with maize) because wheat flowers are complete and
normally self-pollinate. Commercial hybrid wheat seed has
been produced using chemical hybridizing agents; these
chemicals selectively interfere with pollen development, or
naturally occurring cytoplasmic male sterility systems. Hybrid
wheat has been a limited commercial success in Europe
(particularly France), the USA and South Africa.[20] F1 hybrid
wheat cultivars should not be confused with the standard
method of breeding inbred wheat cultivars by crossing two
lines using hand emasculation, then selfing or inbreeding the
progeny many (ten or more) generations before release
selections are identified to be released as a variety or cultivar.

Synthetic hexaploids made by crossing the wild goatgrass

wheat ancestor Aegilops tauschii and various durum wheats
are now being deployed, and these increase the genetic
diversity of cultivated wheats.

Stomata (or leaf pores) are involved in both uptake of carbon

dioxide gas from the atmosphere and water vapor losses from
the leaf due to water transpiration. Basic physiological
investigation of these gas exchange processes has yielded
valuable carbon isotope based methods that are used for
breeding wheat varieties with improved water-use efficiency.
These varieties can improve crop productivity in rain-fed dry-
land wheat farms.[21]

In 2010, a team of scientists announced they had decoded the

wheat genome for the first time (95% of the genome of a
variety of wheat known as Chinese Spring line 42). [22] This
announcement was widely misreported as representing a
finished genome sequence. In fact, sequence data was
produced which allows the identification of wheat genes, but
the data was not assembled to represent the map of the
genome. Information on current wheat genome sequencing
activities can be found at http://www.wheatgenome.info/
[edit]
Plant breeding
Main article: Physiological and molecular wheat breeding

Sheaved and stooked wheat

Wheat

Wheat
In traditional agricultural systems wheat populations often
consist of landraces, informal farmer-maintained populations
that often maintain high levels of morphological diversity.
Although landraces of wheat are no longer grown in Europe
and North America, they continue to be important elsewhere.
The origins of formal wheat breeding lie in the nineteenth
century, when single line varieties were created through
selection of seed from a single plant noted to have desired
properties. Modern wheat breeding developed in the first
years of the twentieth century and was closely linked to the
development of Mendelian genetics. The standard method of
breeding inbred wheat cultivars is by crossing two lines using
hand emasculation, then selfing or inbreeding the progeny.
Selections are identified (shown to have the genes
responsible for the varietal differences) ten or more
generations before release as a variety or cultivar. [23]

F1 hybrid wheat cultivars should not be confused with wheat

cultivars deriving from standard plant breeding. Heterosis or
hybrid vigor (as in the familiar F1 hybrids of maize) occurs in
common (hexaploid) wheat, but it is difficult to produce seed of
hybrid cultivars on a commercial scale as is done with maize
because wheat flowers are complete and normally self-
pollinate.[23] Commercial hybrid wheat seed has been
produced using chemical hybridizing agents, plant growth
regulators that selectively interfere with pollen development, or
naturally occurring cytoplasmic male sterility systems. Hybrid
wheat has been a limited commercial success in Europe
(particularly France), the United States and South Africa.[24]

The major breeding objectives include high grain yield, good

quality, disease and insect resistance and tolerance to abiotic
stresses include mineral, moisture and heat tolerance. The
major diseases in temperate environments include the
following, arranged in a rough order of their significance from
cooler to warmer climates: eyespot, Stagonospora nodorum
blotch (also known as glume blotch), yellow or stripe rust,
powdery mildew, Septoria tritici blotch (sometimes known as
leaf blotch), brown or leaf rust, Fusarium head blight, tan spot
and stem rust. In tropical areas, spot blotch (also known as
Helminthosporium leaf blight) is also important.

[edit]
Hulled versus free-threshing wheat

A mature wheat field in Israel

The four wild species of wheat, along with the domesticated
varieties einkorn,[25] emmer[26] and spelt,[27] have hulls. This
more primitive morphology (in evolutionary terms) consists of
toughened glumes that tightly enclose the grains, and (in
domesticated wheats) a semi-brittle rachis that breaks easily
on threshing. The result is that when threshed, the wheat ear
breaks up into spikelets. To obtain the grain, further
processing, such as milling or pounding, is needed to remove
the hulls or husks. In contrast, in free-threshing (or naked)
forms such as durum wheat and common wheat, the glumes
are fragile and the rachis tough. On threshing, the chaff
breaks up, releasing the grains. Hulled wheats are often
stored as spikelets because the toughened glumes give good
protection against pests of stored grain. [25]

[edit]
Naming
For more details on this topic, see Taxonomy of wheat.

Sack of wheat
There are many botanical classification systems used for
wheat species, discussed in a separate article on Wheat
taxonomy. The name of a wheat species from one information
source may not be the name of a wheat species in another.

Within a species, wheat cultivars are further classified by

wheat breeders and farmers in terms of:

▪ growing season, such as winter wheat vs. spring wheat,[8]

by gluten content, such as hard wheat (high protein
content) vs. soft wheat (high starch content), or by grain
color (red, white or amber).
▪ Protein content. Bread wheat protein content ranges from
10% in some soft wheats with high starch contents, to
15% in hard wheats.
▪ The quality of the wheat protein gluten. This protein can
determine the suitability of a wheat to a particular dish. A
strong and elastic gluten present in bread wheats
enables dough to trap carbon dioxide during leavening,
but elastic gluten interferes with the rolling of pasta into
thin sheets. The gluten protein in durum wheats used for
pasta is strong but not elastic.
▪ Grain color (red, white or amber). Many wheat varieties are
reddish-brown due to phenolic compounds present in the
bran layer which are transformed to pigments by
browning enzymes. White wheats have a lower content
of phenolics and browning enzymes, and are generally
less astringent in taste than red wheats. The yellowish
color of durum wheat and semolina flour made from it is
due to a carotenoid pigment called lutein, which can be
oxidized to a colorless form by enzymes present in the
grain.
[edit]
Major cultivated species of wheat
▪ Common wheat or Bread wheat (T. aestivum) – A
hexaploid species that is the most widely cultivated in
the world.
▪ Durum (T. durum) – The only tetraploid form of wheat widely
used today, and the second most widely cultivated
wheat.
▪ Einkorn (T. monococcum) – A diploid species with wild and
cultivated variants. Domesticated at the same time as
emmer wheat, but never reached the same importance.
▪ Emmer (T. dicoccum) – A tetraploid species, cultivated in
ancient times but no longer in widespread use.
▪ Spelt (T. spelta) – Another hexaploid species cultivated in
limited quantities.
Classes used in the United States are

▪ Durum – Very hard, translucent, light-colored grain used to

make semolina flour for pasta.
▪ Hard Red Spring – Hard, brownish, high-protein wheat
 used for bread and hard baked goods. Bread Flour and
high-gluten flours are commonly made from hard red
spring wheat. It is primarily traded at the Minneapolis
Grain Exchange.
▪ Hard Red Winter – Hard, brownish, mellow high-protein
wheat used for bread, hard baked goods and as an
adjunct in other flours to increase protein in pastry flour
for pie crusts. Some brands of unbleached all-purpose
flours are commonly made from hard red winter wheat
alone. It is primarily traded by the Kansas City Board of
Trade. One variety is known as "turkey red wheat", and
was brought to Kansas by Mennonite immigrants from
Russia.[28]
▪ Soft Red Winter – Soft, low-protein wheat used for cakes,
pie crusts, biscuits, and muffins. Cake flour, pastry flour,
and some self-rising flours with baking powder and salt
added, for example, are made from soft red winter
wheat. It is primarily traded by the Chicago Board of
Trade.
▪ Hard White – Hard, light-colored, opaque, chalky, medium-
protein wheat planted in dry, temperate areas. Used for
bread and brewing.
▪ Soft White – Soft, light-colored, very low protein wheat
grown in temperate moist areas. Used for pie crusts and
pastry. Pastry flour, for example, is sometimes made
from soft white winter wheat.
Red wheats may need bleaching; therefore, white wheats
usually command higher prices than red wheats on the
commodities market.
 [edit]
As a food

Wheat is used in a wide variety of foods.

Wheat germ crude (not whole grain)
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 1,506 kJ (360 kcal)
Carbohydrates 51.8 g
Dietary fiber 13.2 g
Fat 9.72 g
Protein 23.15 g
Thiamine (Vit. B1) 1.882 mg (145%)
Riboflavin (Vit. B2) 0.499 mg (33%)
Niacin (Vit. B3) 6.813 mg (45%)
Pantothenic acid (B5) 0.05 mg (1%)
Vitamin B6 1.3 mg (100%)
Folate (Vit. B9) 281 μg (70%)
Calcium 39 mg (4%)
Iron 6.26 mg (50%)
Magnesium 239 mg (65%)
Phosphorus 842 mg (120%)
Potassium 892 mg (19%)
Zinc 12.29 mg (123%)
Manganese 13.301 mg
Percentages are relative to US recommendations for
adults.
Source: USDA Nutrient database

Raw wheat can be ground into flour or - using hard durum

wheat only, can be ground into semolina; germinated and
dried creating malt; crushed or cut into cracked wheat;
parboiled (or steamed), dried, crushed and de-branned into
bulgur also known as groats. If the raw wheat is broken into
parts at the mill, as is usually done, the outer husk or bran can
be used several ways. Wheat is a major ingredient in such
foods as bread, porridge, crackers, biscuits, Muesli, pancakes,
pies, pastries, cakes, cookies, muffins, rolls, doughnuts, gravy,
boza (a fermented beverage), and breakfast cereals (e.g.,
Wheatena, Cream of Wheat, Shredded Wheat, and
Wheaties).

[edit]
Nutrition
100 grams of hard red winter wheat[clarification needed] contain
about 12.6 grams of protein, 1.5 grams of total fat, 71 grams
of carbohydrate (by difference), 12.2 grams of dietary fiber,
and 3.2 mg of iron (17% of the daily requirement); the same
weight of hard red spring wheat contains about 15.4 grams of
protein, 1.9 grams of total fat, 68 grams of carbohydrate (by
difference), 12.2 grams of dietary fiber, and 3.6 mg of iron
(20% of the daily requirement).[29]

Much of the carbohydrate fraction of wheat is starch. Wheat

starch is an important commercial product of wheat, but
second in economic value to wheat gluten.[30] The principal
parts of wheat flour are gluten and starch. These can be
separated in a kind of home experiment, by mixing flour and
water to form a small ball of dough, and kneading it gently
while rinsing it in a bowl of water. The starch falls out of the
dough and sinks to the bottom of the bowl, leaving behind a
ball of gluten.

[edit]
Health concerns
Main article: Gluten sensitivity
Roughly 1% of Indian populations[31][32] has coeliac (also
written as celiac) disease—a condition that is caused by an
adverse immune system reaction to gliadin, a gluten protein
found in wheat (and similar proteins of the tribe Triticeae
which includes other species such as barley and rye). Upon
exposure to gliadin, the enzyme tissue transglutaminase
modifies the protein, and the immune system cross-reacts with
the bowel tissue, causing an inflammatory reaction. That leads
to flattening of the lining of the small intestine, which interferes
with the absorption of nutrients. The only effective treatment is
a lifelong gluten-free diet.

The estimate for people in the United States is between 0.5

and 1.0 percent of the population.[33][34][35]

While the disease is caused by a reaction to wheat proteins, it

is not the same as wheat allergy.

[edit]
Synopsis of major staple food
Synopsis[36] of staple food Amaranth[3 Wheat[3 Rice[39 S
~composition: 7] 8] ]

Amou
Component (per 100g portion) Amount Amount
nt

water (g) 11 11 12 7

energy (kJ) 1554 1506 1527 3

protein (g) 14 13 7 3

fat (g) 7 10 1 1

carbohydrates (g) 65 52 79 1

fiber (g) 7 13 1 3

sugars (g) 1.7 0.1 >0.1 3

iron (mg) 7.6 6.3 0.8 0

manganese (mg) 3.4 13.3 1.1 0

calcium (mg) 159 39 28 2

magnesium (mg) 248 239 25 3

phosphorus (mg) 557 842 115 8

potassium (mg) 508 892 115 2

zinc (mg) 2.9 12.3 1.1 0

panthothenic acid (mg) 1.5 0.1 1.0 0

vitB6 (mg) 0.6 1.3 0.2 0

folate (µg) 82 281 8 4

thiamin (mg) 0.1 1.9 0.1 0

riboflavin (mg) 0.2 0.5 >0.1 0

niacin (mg) 0.9 6.8 1.6 1

[edit]
Commercial use
Wheat output in 2005
Harvested wheat grain that enters trade is classified according
to grain properties for the purposes of the commodities
market. Wheat buyers use these to decide which wheat to
buy, as each class has special uses, and producers use them
to decide which classes of wheat will be most profitable to
cultivate.

Wheat is widely cultivated as a cash crop because it produces

a good yield per unit area, grows well in a temperate climate
even with a moderately short growing season, and yields a
versatile, high-quality flour that is widely used in baking. Most
breads are made with wheat flour, including many breads
named for the other grains they contain like most rye and oat
breads. The popularity of foods made from wheat flour creates
a large demand for the grain, even in economies with
significant food surpluses.
Utensil made of dry wheat branches for loaves of bread
In recent years, low international wheat prices have often
encouraged farmers in the USA to change to more profitable
crops. In 1998, the price at harvest was $2.68 per bushel. A
USDA report[42] revealed that in 1998, average operating
costs were $1.43 per bushel and total costs were $3.97 per
bushel. In that study, farm wheat yields averaged 41.7 bushels
per acre (2.2435 metric ton / hectare), and typical total wheat
production value was $31,900 per farm, with total farm
production value (including other crops) of $173,681 per farm,
plus $17,402 in government payments. There were significant
profitability differences between low- and high-cost farms,
mainly due to crop yield differences, location, and farm size.

In 2007 there was a dramatic rise in the price of wheat due to

freezes and flooding in the northern hemisphere and a drought
in Australia. Wheat futures in September, 2007 for December
and March delivery had risen above $9.00 a bushel, prices
never seen before.[43] There were complaints in Italy about
the high price of pasta.[44] This followed a wider trend of
escalating food prices around the globe, driven in part by
climatic conditions such as drought in Australia, the diversion
of arable land to other uses (such as producing government-
subsidised bio-oil crops), and later by some food-producing
nations placing bans or restrictions on exports in order to
satisfy their own consumers.

Other drivers affecting wheat prices include the movement to

bio fuels (in 2008, a third of corn crops in the US are expected
to be devoted to ethanol production) [citation needed] and rising
incomes in developing countries, which is causing a shift in
eating patterns from predominantly rice to more meat based
diets (a rise in meat production equals a rise in grain
consumption—seven kilograms of grain is required to produce
one kilogram of beef).[45]

[edit]
Production and consumption

Worldwide wheat production

Main article: International wheat production statistics
In 2003, global per capita wheat consumption was 67 kg, with
the highest per capita consumption (239 kg) found in
Kyrgyzstan.[46] In 1997, global wheat consumption was
101 kg per capita, with the highest consumption (623 kg per
capita) in Denmark, but most of this (81%) was for animal
feed.[47] Wheat is the primary food staple in North Africa and
the Middle East, and is growing in popularity in Asia. Unlike
rice, wheat production is more widespread globally though
China's share is almost one-sixth of the world.

In the 20th century, global wheat output expanded by about 5-

fold, but until about 1955 most of this reflected increases in
wheat crop area, with lesser (about 20%) increases in crop
yields per unit area. After 1955 however, there was a dramatic
ten-fold increase in the rate of wheat yield improvement per
year, and this became the major factor allowing global wheat
production to increase. Thus technological innovation and
scientific crop management with synthetic nitrogen fertilizer,
irrigation and wheat breeding were the main drivers of wheat
output growth in the second half of the century. There were
some significant decreases in wheat crop area, for instance in
North America.[48]

Better seed storage and germination ability (and hence a

smaller requirement to retain harvested crop for next year's
seed) is another 20th century technological innovation. In
Medieval England, farmers saved one-quarter of their wheat
harvest as seed for the next crop, leaving only three-quarters
for food and feed consumption. By 1999, the global average
seed use of wheat was about 6% of output.

Several factors are currently slowing the rate of global

expansion of wheat production: population growth rates are
falling while wheat yields continue to rise, and the better
economic profitability of other crops such as soybeans and
maize, linked with investment in modern genetic technologies,
has promoted shifts to other crops.

[edit]
Farming systems
In the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, as well as North
China, irrigation has been a major contributor to increased
grain output. More widely over the last 40 years, a massive
increase in fertilizer use together with the increased availability
of semi-dwarf varieties in developing countries, has greatly
increased yields per hectare. In developing countries, use of
(mainly nitrogenous) fertilizer increased 25-fold in this period.
However, farming systems rely on much more than fertilizer
and breeding to improve productivity. A good illustration of this
is Australian wheat growing in the southern winter cropping
zone, where, despite low rainfall (300 mm), wheat cropping is
successful even with relatively little use of nitrogenous
fertilizer. This is achieved by 'rotation cropping' (traditionally
called the ley system) with leguminous pastures and, in the
last decade, including a canola crop in the rotations has
boosted wheat yields by a further 25% .[49] In these low
rainfall areas, better use of available soil-water (and better
control of soil erosion) is achieved by retaining the stubble
after harvesting and by minimizing tillage.[50]

[edit]
Futures contracts
Wheat futures are traded on the Chicago Board of Trade,
Kansas City Board of Trade, and Minneapolis Grain
Exchange, and have delivery dates in March (H), May (K),
July (N), September (U), and December (Z).[51]

Top Ten Wheat Producers —

2008 (million metric ton)

 China 112

 India 79

 United States 68

 Russia 64

 France 39
  Canada 29

 Germany 26

 Ukraine 26

 Australia 21

 Pakistan 21

World Total 690

Source: UN Food & Agriculture
Organisation (FAO)[52]
[edit]
Geographical variation
There are substantial differences in wheat farming, trading,
policy, sector growth, and wheat uses in different regions of
the world. In the EU and Canada for instance, there is
significant addition of wheat to animal feeds, but less so in the
USA.

The two biggest wheat producers are China and the EU,
followed currently by India, then USA. Developed countries
USA, Canada, Australia, the EU and increasingly Argentina
are the major exporters with developing countries being the
main importers, although both India and China are close to
being self-sufficient in wheat. In the rapidly developing
countries of Asia, Westernization of diets associated with
increasing prosperity is leading to growth in per capita
demand for wheat at the expense of the other food staples.

In the past, there has been significant governmental

intervention in wheat markets, such as price supports in the
USA and farm payments in the EU. In the EU these subsidies
have encouraged heavy use of fertilizers inputs with resulting
high crop yields. In Australia and Argentina direct government
subsidies are much lower.[53]

[edit]
Agronomy

Wheat spikelet with the three anthers sticking out

[edit]
Crop development
Wheat normally needs between 110 and 130 days between
planting and harvest, depending upon climate, seed type, and
soil conditions (winter wheat lies dormant during a winter
freeze). Optimal crop management requires that the farmer
have a detailed understanding of each stage of development
in the growing plants. In particular, spring fertilizers,
herbicides, fungicides, growth regulators are typically applied
only at specific stages of plant development. For example, it is
currently recommended that the second application of nitrogen
is best done when the ear (not visible at this stage) is about
1 cm in size (Z31 on Zadoks scale). Knowledge of stages is
also important to identify periods of higher risk from the
climate. For example, pollen formation from the mother cell,
and the stages between anthesis and maturity are susceptible
to high temperatures, and this adverse effect is made worse
by water stress.[54] Farmers also benefit from knowing when
the 'flag leaf' (last leaf) appears, as this leaf represents about
75% of photosynthesis reactions during the grain filling period,
and so should be preserved from disease or insect attacks to
ensure a good yield.

Several systems exist to identify crop stages, with the Feekes

and Zadoks scales being the most widely used. Each scale is
a standard system which describes successive stages
reached by the crop during the agricultural season.

Wheat at the anthesis stage. Face view (left) and side view (right)

[edit]
Diseases
Main articles: Wheat diseases and List of wheat diseases
There are many wheat diseases, mainly caused by fungi,
bacteria, and viruses.[55] Plant breeding to develop new
disease-resistant varieties, and sound crop management
practices are important for preventing disease. Fungicides,
used to prevent the significant crop losses from fungal
disease, can be a significant variable cost in wheat production.
Estimates of the amount of wheat production lost owing to
plant diseases vary between 10–25% in Missouri.[56] A wide
range of organisms infect wheat, of which the most important
are viruses and fungi.

The main wheat-disease categories are:

▪ Seed-borne diseases: these include seed-borne scab, seed-

borne Stagonospora (previously known as Septoria),
common bunt (stinking smut), and loose smut. These are
managed with fungicides.
▪ Leaf- and head- blight diseases: Powdery mildew, leaf rust,
Septoria tritici leaf blotch, Stagonospora (Septoria)
nodorum leaf and glume blotch, and Fusarium head
scab.
▪ Crown and root rot diseases: Two of the more important of
these are 'take-all' and Cephalosporium stripe. Both of
these diseases are soil borne.
▪ Viral diseases: Wheat spindle streak mosaic (yellow mosaic)
and barley yellow dwarf are the two most common viral
diseases. Control can be achieved by using resistant
varieties.
[edit]
Pests
Wheat is used as a food plant by the larvae of some
Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species including The Flame,
Rustic Shoulder-knot, Setaceous Hebrew Character and
Turnip Moth. Early in the season, birds and rodents can also
cause significant damage to a crop by digging up and eating
newly planted seeds or young plants. They can also damage
the crop late in the season by eating the grain from the mature
spike. Recent post-harvest losses in cereals amount to billions
of dollars per year in the USA alone, and damage to wheat by
various borers, beetles and weevils is no exception. [57]
Rodents can also cause major losses during storage, and in
major grain growing regions, field mice numbers can
sometimes build up explosively to plague proportions because
of the ready availability of food.[58] To reduce the amount of
wheat lost to post-harvest pests, Agricultural Research
Service scientists have developed an “insect-o-graph,” which
can detect insects in wheat that are not visible to the naked
eye. The device uses electrical signals to detect the insects as
the wheat is being milled. The new technology is so precise
that it can detect 5-10 infested seeds out of 300,000 good
ones.[59] Tracking insect infestations in stored grain is critical
for food safety as well as for the marketing value of the crop.