![]() The oldest evidence for hexaploid wheat has been confirmed through DNA analysis of wheat seeds, dating to around 6400–6200 BCE, recovered from Çatalhöyük. Wheat likely appeared in China's lower Yellow River around 2600 Before Common Era (BCE). "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." By 4000 BCE, wheat had reached the British Isles and Scandinavia. The cultivation of emmer reached Greece, Cyprus and Indian subcontinent by 6500 BCE, Egypt shortly after 6000 BCE, and Germany and Spain by 5000 BCE. They also concluded that the settlers of Tell Aswad did not develop this form of emmer themselves, but brought the domesticated grains with them from an as yet unidentified location elsewhere. These remains were dated by Willem van Zeist and his assistant Johanna Bakker-Heeres to 8800 BCE. With the exception of Iraq ed-Dubb, the earliest carbon-14 dated remains of domesticated emmer wheat were found in the earliest levels of Tell Aswad, in the Damascus basin, near Mount Hermon in Syria. Remains of harvested emmer from several sites near the Karacadag Range have been dated to between 8600 (at Cayonu) and 8400 BCE (Abu Hureyra), that is, in the Neolithic period. With the anomalous exception of two grains from Iraq ed-Dubb, the earliest carbon-14 date for einkorn wheat remains at Abu Hureyra is 7800 to 7500 years BCE. Dated archeological remains of einkorn wheat in settlement sites near this region, including those at Abu Hureyra in Syria, suggest the domestication of einkorn near the Karacadag Mountain Range. Genetic analysis of wild einkorn wheat suggests that it was first grown in the Karacadaǧ Mountains in southeastern Turkey. 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.Īrchaeological analysis of wild emmer indicates that it was first cultivated in the southern Levant, with finds dating back as far as 9600 BCE. 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. In wild strains, a more fragile rachis allows the ear to easily shatter and disperse the spikelets. In domesticated wheat, grains are larger, and the seeds (inside the spikelets) remain attached to the ear by a toughened rachis during harvesting. Woman harvesting wheat, Raise district, Madhya Pradesh, IndiaĬultivation 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. ![]() 9.1.1 British Empire and successor states.5.2 Hulled versus free-threshing species.In a small part of the general population, gluten – the major part of wheat protein – can trigger coeliac disease, noncoeliac gluten sensitivity, gluten ataxia, and dermatitis herpetiformis. When eaten as the whole grain, wheat is a source of multiple nutrients and dietary fiber. Globally, it is the leading source of vegetable protein in human food, having a protein content of about 13%, which is relatively high compared to other major cereals but relatively low in protein quality for supplying essential amino acids. Wheat is an important source of carbohydrates. Global demand for wheat is increasing due to the unique viscoelastic and adhesive properties of gluten proteins, which facilitate the production of processed foods, whose consumption is increasing as a result of the worldwide industrialization process and the westernization of the diet. Since 1960, world production of wheat and other grain crops has tripled and is expected to grow further through the middle of the 21st century. In 2020, world production of wheat was 761 million tonnes (1.7 trillion pounds), making it the second most-produced cereal after maize. World trade in wheat is greater than for all other crops combined. Wheat is grown on more land area than any other food crop (220.4 million hectares or 545 million acres, 2014). Botanically, the wheat kernel is a type of fruit called a caryopsis. The archaeological record suggests that wheat was first cultivated in the regions of the Fertile Crescent around 9600 BCE. The many species of wheat together make up the genus Triticum the most widely grown is common wheat ( T. Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain which is a worldwide staple food.
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