Wheat - what is it? The value of plants in human life

Since childhood, we have known such a grain crop as wheat. Everyone knows what wheat is, as well as the fact that without it it is difficult to imagine the diet of a modern person. Today we will deepen our knowledge of cereal, consider in detail its types, cultivation methods, properties and much more.

general characteristics

Wheat, the photo of which is probably familiar to everyone, is a one- or two-year-old genus of cereal crops. The flour obtained from it is used for baking light-colored breads and for the production of certain foodstuffs. Milling waste is used to feed livestock and poultry. In addition, recently they are increasingly used as industrial raw materials. An amazing plant, wheat is the leading grain crop in many countries of the world, and is a key food in northern China, parts of India and Japan, in most countries of the Middle East and North Africa, as well as on the plains of South America.

The main producer of wheat is China, and the second place is occupied by America. They are followed by such large producing countries: India, Russia, France, Canada, Ukraine, Turkey, Kazakhstan. Wheat grain is an important agricultural object of international trade, it accounts for almost 60% The main exporter of wheat is America. It is followed by: Canada, France, Australia and Argentina. Main importers: Russia, China, Japan, Egypt, Brazil, Poland, Italy, Korea, Iraq and Morocco.

Wheat varieties number in the thousands and have a rather complex classification, but there are two main types - hard and soft. Soft varieties are also divided into red-grained and white-grained. As a rule, they are grown in humid regions. Durum wheat varieties are bred in drier climates, for example, in areas dominated by the steppe. In Australia and Western Europe, predominantly soft varieties are produced. And in such regions as America, Canada, North Africa, Western Asia, Argentina and the countries of the former Soviet Union - mainly hard varieties.

Biology

We continue to get acquainted with such a plant as wheat. What is wheat from a biological point of view? This is the next question to be answered. Like other cereals, wheat has a straw-stalk with nodes and hollow internodes. The leaves are simple, linear, two-row, alternate. Each of them departs from the node, and consists of a vagina, which covers the overlying internode like a split tube, and a long plate knot. Three outgrowths are located on the border between the plate and the sheath: a membranous tongue, which is adjacent to the stem, and a pair of finger-like ears covering it.

The upper internode, which is also called the peduncle, carries an inflorescence - a complex ear. It includes a cranked central axis, and simple inflorescences extending from it - spikelets that face the axis with a wide side. On each spikelet there are from two to five flowers extending to the sides, which are covered on the underside with a pair of spikelet scales. In addition, each flower is protected by a pair of bracts - a thick lower scale and a relatively thin upper scale. In some varieties of wheat, the lower color flake ends with a long awn. Such varieties are called spinous.

Wheat flowers are usually bisexual. They have three stamens and a pistil bearing two feathery stigmas. At the base of the tie there are 2-3 small flower films (lodicula), which act as a perianth. By the time of flowering, the lodiculas swell and move apart the scales surrounding the flower. Wheat is predominantly a self-pollinating plant, but there are species with cross-pollination. After fertilization, a small hard fruit grows from the ovary - a caryopsis, which is held in the spikelet thanks to the flower scales.

A grain, or as it is also called a caryopsis, is a pericarp formed from the wall of the ovary, which is inextricably linked with a single seed containing an embryo and endosperm. The embryo is located at the base of the grain, on the side, and includes a kidney, a root, and a modified cotyledon adjacent to the endosperm - a shield. When the embryo germinates, the root gives the primary root system, the bud gives the "adult" roots of the plant and its above-ground organs, and the shield secretes enzymes for digesting the endosperm and conducts its nutrients to the seedling, which had begun development by that time. This is how young wheat begins its life. The photo below will help you more clearly understand the structure of its grain.

Grain sown in the ground absorbs moisture, swells and germinates. The embryonic root and bud come out and grow up and down, respectively. On the surface of the soil, from the first node of the culm, formed from the bud, adventitious roots depart, which branch and form the urinary root system. The place where the stem meets the root is called the root collar. Just above the neck, the lower nodes of the stem are close together. Lateral shoots develop from the axils of their leaves. This process is called wheat tillering.

During the described processes, the plant is called sprout. Then comes the stage of exit into the tube - the rapid elongation of the straw. It is followed by earing - the formation of an inflorescence. During heading, the internode brings the ear 8-10 centimeters above the top leaf.

The grain, which has reached its final size, consists of the embryo and the watery endosperm. At first, the endosperm is transparent. As the starch content increases, it turns white. This stage is called milky ripeness. The moisture content of the grain gradually decreases and its contents become like sticky dough. This stage is called wax ripeness. Ultimately, when the grain is fully ripe (technically ripe), it becomes hard.

Properties

So, we have already figured out what wheat is. We also know what hard and soft varieties are. Now let's talk about the properties due to which this culture has found such widespread use. Soft and hard varieties, on the one hand, have much in common, and on the other hand, they have a number of fundamental differences that should be taken into account when using flour. According to historians, the ancient Greeks and Romans, and perhaps even earlier civilizations, knew the difference between the two main types of wheat grains.

Flour obtained from soft wheat has soft and fairly large grains of starch, it has a thin and crumbly texture, contains little gluten and absorbs less water. This type of flour has found use in baking confectionery. It is not suitable for bread, as products from such flour quickly become stale and crumble heavily. In areas where the cultivation of soft flour predominates, bread is usually baked from a mixture of a local soft variety and an imported hard one.

Flour obtained from durum wheat has small and hard starch grains, a fine-grained texture, and is distinguished by a high content of gluten. This flour is called "strong" because it absorbs a lot of water and is used in baking bread. Durum wheat pasta is also a popular product.

Application area

The value of wheat in human life has always been significant. With the increase in the proportion of meat and other non-grain products in the diet of people, the amount of wheat and other cereals they consume is gradually decreasing. Wheat is also widely used as a grain. At the same time, its flour-grinding qualities practically do not affect the nutritional value. In America, for example, whole grains began to be used for feed, although grinding waste was previously used.

Milling waste was fed to livestock in ancient times. Waste with a high content of cellulose was fed to cattle and horses, and with a low content - to poultry and pigs. Wheat bran has always been valued as a nutritional supplement to the diet of ewes and pregnant cows. Previously, they were also given to horses, due to their laxative properties. For pigs, small bran is best, which includes germs and flour adhering to them. They are best used with fishmeal, dairy by-products and slaughterhouse waste, as an additive to grain feed. In the poultry industry, especially broilers, the use of milling waste has recently been declining due to the growing popularity of low-fiber diets.

Until recently, the applied study of wheat was aimed mainly at improving its nutritional properties. Laboratory studies have shown that wheat gluten can become a raw material for the production of plastics, fibers and adhesives. The problem is that these products are brittle and soluble in water, which means that they are not of commercial value.

In recent years, there has been a downward trend in bread consumption, which has revived interest in exploring non-traditional uses of wheat. So, from flour, with the help of special processing, they learned how to get "instant" dishes that resemble semolina in appearance, high-protein flakes are made from gluten for a quick breakfast, wheat starch is used to strengthen paper. And wheat sprouts, the beneficial properties of which have been proven, have even begun to be eaten raw.

The adhesive and viscosity properties of flour have found application in industry. Flour is used as an additive to drilling fluids used in oil production. And when extracting gold from solution, it serves as a flocculating agent. In addition, flour is used in the production of drywall to better bind the mineral and paper parts, and also serves as a filler for waterproof adhesives for plywood. And these are just the most common uses of wheat flour in industry.

Classification

From an economic point of view, not all wheat matters. The value of a plant depends on the species. The most profitable, and therefore the most common, are three year old / soft / ordinary, hard, and dense spike / dwarf. The first type is grown all over the world and is mainly used in the bakery industry. Grains of the second type are used for the production of pasta, as they are rich in gluten. This is a mixture of proteins that forms a sticky mass that binds the dough well and retains carbon dioxide bubbles in it. Thanks to gluten, the dough rises and the bread becomes fluffy. As for dwarf wheat, flour from it is used mainly for crumbly baking.

Summer wheat is bred in the largest volumes. Its spikelet scales have a comb structure only in the upper part. The lower lemmas are awnless. The straw of such wheat is usually hollow. Common wheat differs from dwarf wheat in elongated, loose or compact, dorsoventrally flattened ears. A distinctive feature of durum wheat is sharp ridges located along the entire length of the spikelet scales. In addition, it usually has spinous lower lemmas. Straw of durum wheat, as a rule, is not complete.

Wheat varieties are also divided into spring and winter. Spring wheat is usually grown in regions with too severe winters. It is sown in the spring. sown in the fall and harvested the following summer. This is the most common species, as it begins to develop earlier than spring wheat, ripens faster, and gives a higher yield.

Ecology

Wheat thrives in a wide range of climates, and is grown in almost all agricultural areas except perhaps the tropics. Therefore, the cultivation of wheat is developed almost all over the world. In terms of resistance to cold, it loses only to barley, potatoes and some fodder grasses. Heat for wheat is also not terrible, unless it is combined with high humidity. In the latter case, grains suffer from various diseases, which reduces the profitability of their cultivation.

Although this crop can grow hardly anywhere, there are two main belts where wheat is grown most productively. The first is between 30 and 55 degrees north latitude, and the second is between 25 and 40 degrees south latitude. The annual rainfall in these areas averages from 300 to 1100 mm. The optimal rainfall for a good harvest is 250-1000 mm per year. Wheat growth occurs in the temperature range from 3 to 32 degrees. Due to too early sowing, seedlings can get sick, exactly as well as due to too late (when it comes to winter wheat).

Spring wheat is usually sown from March to May, depending on local weather conditions. The crop begins to be harvested when the moisture content of the grain drops to 13%. Spring wheat matures fully in about 100 frost-free days. If you remove it earlier, you will have to resort to drying. And later harvesting is fraught with loss of volumes, as overripe grain begins to crumble to the ground.

Winter wheat is grown among other things for livestock feed. When the exits reach a length of 15-20 cm, grazing begins. If next year it is planned to collect grain from the same field, then grazing is stopped at the stage of transition of the plant to the tube. In some areas of America, wheat is sown with winter legumes, and before flowering it is cut for silage and hay.

Recycling

Wheat grain has a brownish shell, which, when milled, gives bran rich in protein, vitamins and cellulose. Under the shell is an aleurone layer, consisting of small granules. The germ at the base of the grain is rich in oils, proteins and minerals. Everything else is thin-layer endosperm cells, which are filled with starch grains and gluten, which gives the dough viscosity.

During milling, an operation to obtain flour from wheat grains, the task of separating starch and gluten from other components of the grain arises. The fact is that because of the germ, the flour becomes sticky and quickly darkens, and because of the aleurone layer, it acquires a brownish tint. As a result of flour cleaning, milling waste is formed - bran and fine screenings (muchka). They make up from 15 to 18% of the mass of refined grain.

Flour composition

Wheat, the photo of which is usually depicted on packs of flour, is a very valuable grain. It contains a large amount of vitamins (group B, choline, PP, E and H), as well as macro- and microelements (calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium, iron, phosphorus, aluminum, titanium, chlorine, nickel, tin, molybdenum, chromium, boron, zinc, selenium and others). Thus, wheat, the benefits and harms of which will be discussed a little lower, contains almost all the minerals necessary for the life of the human body.

Varieties of flour

Flour is classified by grade. Let's consider each of them.

Top grade. It has a white color and is used for the preparation of flour products. The latter receive fine porosity and good volume. Flour is great for puff, yeast and shortcrust pastry.

First grade. It can be either white or yellowish. It is well suited for making pancakes, rolls, pies and other baked goods. It is not recommended to use such flour for high-quality confectionery and bakery products.

Second grade. It has a yellowish or even grayish tint. It makes fluffy and porous pastries. Second grade flour is used mainly for white bread and lean pastries. The second grade of flour is most widely used in baking gingerbread and cookies.

Krupchatka. Light cream flour containing a high percentage of gluten. Used to make yeast dough containing a lot of sugar and fat. Suitable for baking.

Wallpaper. It has relatively large, heterogeneous particles. It has high moisture capacity and sugar-forming ability. It is used for baking mainly table varieties of bread.

Benefit and harm

We have already figured out what wheat is. What is flour, we also know. It remains only to deal with the beneficial and harmful properties of this very flour.

Flour speeds up metabolism, stimulates brain function and estrogen production, protects the cardiovascular system, reduces the risk of gallstones, and also helps treat osteoporosis and Alzheimer's disease. Substances contained in the flour soften the inflammatory processes in the human body, prevent the formation of free radicals in it, and protect it from certain diseases. Flour helps in the treatment of bronchitis and asthma.

Wheat, the benefits of which are undeniable, has some disadvantages. The main disadvantage of wheat flour is its calorie content. In addition, it can increase blood pressure and cause allergic reactions.