CEREALS

1. Definition

The term “cereal” means plants cultivated for their grain and coming from the Grasses family (Poaceae or Gramineae). However, not all Grasses are cereals, for example bamboo, cane sugar, etc.

2. Species

a) True cereals:

These include not only wheat (all species from the genus Triticum), rye, barley, oats, spelt; but also kamut™ (a sub-family of the Fistucoideae), rice (Oryzoideae), millet, corn (Panicoideae) and teff (Chloridoideae).

b) Others/similar:

These include buckwheat (Polygonaceae) and quinoa (Chenopodioideae).

3. Farming

For wheat, this goes back 12,000 years, in a part of the Middle East (Israel, Jordan, Syria, Iraq). Corn, on the other hand, appeared 8,000 to 9,000 years ago, in Mexico. Rice goes back 6,000-7,000 years, in China. Finally, sorghum is more recent: 4,000 to 5,000 years (Niger).

4. Genealogy

We have moved from wheats not suitable for bread making and poor in gluten to wheats suitable for bread making that contain twice as much. The genetic material of wheat has increased over time. Since it is polyploidal, it can be combined and added to that of another plant. The genetic material increases over time and through cross breeding. Below is the order of succession of cultivated species:

· diploid wheats (14 chromosomes), low in gluten and not suitable for bread making:

— wild einkorn (Triticum boeoticum);

— domesticated einkorn or littlespelt (Triticum monococcum), the first cultivated wheat;

· tetraploid wheats (28 chromosomes), richer in gluten and therefore suitable for bread making:

— wild emmer (Triticum dicoccoïdes), resulting from a hybridization with Aegilops speltoides;

— domesticated emmer (Triticum dicoccum), richer in gluten and therefore suitable for bread making;

· hexaploid wheats (42 chromosomes), richer in gluten and suitable for bread making, more resistant to cold but less viable in a natural environment since they are dependent on inputs:

— modern wheats: durum wheat (Triticum durum), poulard wheat (T. turgidum), kamut™ or Khorasan wheat (T. turanicum);

— wheats resulting from hybridization with Aegilops tauschii or A. squarrosa: spelt or dinkel wheat (T. spelta);

— common or bread wheat (T. aestivum), the species most cultivated in the world, and its numerous mutant sub-varieties: Pitic62, Penjamo62, Siette Cerros, Sonora 64, etc.

All are summarized in the table below:


Wheat Genealogy

14 chromosomes: / Aegilops
(unidentified) / wild einkorn / Aegilops searsii or faux spelt / Aegilops
tauschii
cultivated einkorn
(littlesplet)
28 chromosomes: / wild Zanduri
wheat / wild
emmer
cultivated
Zanduri wheat / kamut,
emmer,
Poulard, durum wheat
42 chromosomes: / Zhukovsky’s wheat / / common wheat, spelt

Note: Cultivated species are represented by bold text.

Source: Thierry FUSTIER (02/05/16).