Plant resources utilization

1. SUBJECT: PLANT RESOURCE UTILIZATION, PALYNOLOGY AND
BIOSTATISTICS
TOPIC : CULTIVATION PRODUCTION AND
USES OF WHEAT
Dr. Saurabh Kumar
Head of Department
Botany
KCMT College, Bareilly
saurabh_k02@rediffmail.com

2. PLANTS AND HUMAN WELFARE

3. A Cereal is any grass cultivated (grown) for the edible components of its grain (botanically,
a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran. The term may
also refer to the resulting grain itself (specifically "cereal grain"). Cereal grain crops are grown
in greater quantities and provide more food energy worldwide than any other type of
crop and are therefore staple crops. Edible grains from other plant families, such
as buckwheat (Polygonaceae), quinoa (Amaranthaceae) and chia (Lamiaceae), are referred to
as pseudocereals.
The word cereal is derived from Ceres, the Roman goddess of harvest and agriculture
The first cereal grains were domesticated by early primitive humans. About 8,000 years ago,
they were domesticated by ancient farming communities in the Fertile Crescent region. Emmer
wheat, einkorn wheat, and barley were three of the so-called Neolithic founder crops in the
development of agriculture. Around the same time, millets and kinds of rice were starting to
become domesticated in East Asia. Sorghum and millets were also being domesticated in sub-
Saharan West Africa.

4. The cereals are the most important sources of plant food for man.
They constitute the most important group in the food plants of India.
The cereals are the members of family Poaceae or Graminea.
There are six true cereals rice, wheat, maize, barley, oat and rye.
They contain a high percentage of carbohydrates, together with a considerable amount of
proteins and some fats. Even vitamins are present.
Cereal grains have been a nutritional staple for thousands of years and are still the single
most important source of calories for most of the world’s population
Among the three primary grains (including rice and corn) that account for 90 percent of all
cereal production today, wheat is our leading source of dietary protein.
Wheat’s exceptional adaptability to a wide variety of growing conditions makes it the
world’s most widely cultivated food plant.
Every month of the year, a wheat crop is harvested somewhere.

5. ORIGIN OF WHEAT

6. The Wheat Plant
Cultivated wheat varieties vary greatly, but all are annual grasses. Wheat’s principal parts are its roots,
clums (stems), leaves and spikes (heads).
Wheat’s kernels are the main part of the plant used as food. Each kernel, produced in the spikes at the top
of the stems, contains a germ and serves as the seed of the plant.
When wheat is threshed using modern equipment, its grains are beaten free from the other parts of the plant
and separated from the wheat straw and chaff mechanically using screens and blasts of air. The straw is
often used as feed and bedding for animals.
Wheat Classification
Wheat is classified according to the growing habits of the plant, color of the wheat kernel and
texture/hardness of the ripened grain.
There are distinct spring and winter types of wheat. Winter wheat is planted and starts to grow in the fall,
goes into dormancy during the winter and is harvested the following year. Spring wheat is planted during its
namesake season and harvested the same year.
The bran layer of the wheat kernel can characteristically be divided into the colors of red and white.
Red wheat is darker. White wheat is lighter in color and is a more specialized classification grown only in
certain regions.
Finally, wheat is divided according to whether it’s hard or soft. Hard wheat contain more protein and are
used principally for bread flour or other products that require greater dough strength. Durum, a hard wheat,
is used for pasta products. Soft wheats are lower in protein and milled primarily into flour for cakes,
pastries and crackers.

9. A Caryopsis is a type of simple dry fruit—
one that is monocarpellate (formed from a
single carpel) and indehiscent (not opening
at maturity) and resembles an achene, except
that in a caryopsis the pericarp is fused with
the thin seed coat typical of grasses and
cereals.
The caryopsis is popularly called
a grain and is the fruit typical of the
family Poaceae or Gramineae

11. Lifecycle of Wheat Plant

12. Einkorn wheat (one-grained wheat), Triticum monococcum, is believed to be the
most ancient cultivated species of wheat, and may be the species from which all
cultivated wheat is descended. Studies suggest that einkorn wheat was cultivated in
Southeastern Turkey from 10 and 40 thousand years ago.
So while a human cell (diploid) has two copies of 23 chromosomes for a total of 46
chromosomes, a wheat cell (hexaploid) has six copies of its seven chromosomes (42
chromosomes total). ... For gene sequencing purposes, that means wheat has 21
different chromosomes to map, because they come in pairs.

13. Modern wheat ear and grains; a, T.
aestivum b, T. spelta

14. Breadwheat, Triticum aestivum, is an allopolyploid produced from two separate
hybridisation events.
Each hybridisation was followed by chromosome doubling in the new hybrid; this enables
normal bivalent formation at meiosis and thus the production of fertile plants.
The initial hybridisation, that occurred approximately 10,000 years ago, is believed to have
been between the two grass species T. urartu (the A genome donor), and T. speltoides (the B
genome donor).
This new species would have been tetraploid (four complete genome complements)
Hexaploid wheat arose as a result of a second hybridization between the new tetraploid and a
third diploid species, T. tauschii (the D genome donor).
Again, chromosome doubling must have occurred in order to produce a fertile individual.
This new species would then have have 42 chromosomes; that is, six complete genomes each
of 7 chromosomes.
EVOLUTION OF HEXAPLOID WHEAT

16. The major varieties of wheat cultivated are as follows:
1. Diploid species:
Einkorn wheat (Triticum monoccum):
It is a diploid species with wild and cultivated varieties. It was
domesticated at the same time as emmer wheat, but never reached the
same importance.
2. Tetraploid species:
Durum wheat (Triticum durum):
This is the only tetraploid wheat grown in ancient times.
3. Hexaploid species:
Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum):
It is the most widely cultivated hexaploid species of wheat, commonly
used variety in the world.
Spelt wheat (Triticum spelta):
It is also a hexalploid species but cultivated in limited quantities.
Previously it was considered as a variety or subspecies of Bread wheat
and called Triticum aestivum sub sp. spelta.

17. The nutrient contents of wheat, Nutritional value per 100 gm is
Energy — 1,368 Kj (327 Kcal)
Carbohydrates — 71.18 gm
Sugar — 0.41
Dietary fiber — 12.2 gm
Fat — 1.54 gm
Proteins — 12.61 gm
Vitamins and Minerals:
Thiamine (Vit B1) — 0.383 mg (33%)
Riboflavin (Vit B2) — 0.115 mg (10%)
Niacin (Vit B3) — 5.464 mg (36%)
Pantothenic acid (Vit B5) — 0.954 mg (19%)
Vit. B6 — 0.3 mg (23%)
Folate (Vit B9) — 38 mg (10%)
Vit. E — 1.01 mg (7%)
Vit. K — 1.9 mg (2%)
Calcium (Ca) — 29 mg (3%)
Magnesium (Mg) — 126 mg (35%)
Manganese (Mn) — 3.985 mg (190%)
Phosphorus (P) — 288 mg (41%)
Potassium (K) — 363 mg (8%)
Sodium — 2 mg (0%)
Zinc — 2.65 mg (28%)

18. Cultivation Area:
It is widely cultivated in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Haryana and Rajasthan. Indo-Gangetic Plain is the best
wheat producing region.
Climate:
The following climatic conditions favour crop growth:
Soil:
Easily irrigable and drainable loamy or clay-loamy soil is suitable for
cultivation of wheat.
Irrigation:
For irrigated wheat, first irrigation should be given 20-25 days after
sowing. Irrigation at tillering, heading and grain filling stages are
essential.

19. Harvesting:
When the grain is dead-ripe and the straw is golden yellow and brittle, harvesting is
done. Generally it begins in mid-February and continues till April, depending on
variety.
Threshing:
Harvested grains are threshed by treading under the feet of cattle on a threshing floor or
by pedal power threshers. Next winnowing is done with winnowing baskets.