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

Since childhood we have known such a grain culture as wheat. What is wheat, know all, as well as the fact that without it it is difficult to imagine the diet of a modern man. Today we will deepen our knowledge of the grain, we will consider in detail its species, methods of cultivation, properties and much more.

general characteristics

Wheat, a photo of which is probably familiar to everyone, is a one- or two-year-old cereal crop. Flour, derived from wheat grains, is used to bake light bread and produce certain foods. Wastes from flour milling are used to feed livestock and poultry. In addition, recently they are increasingly used as industrial raw materials. The amazing wheat plant is the leading cereal crop in many countries of the world, and is a key food product in northern China, some areas of India and Japan, in most countries of the Middle East and North Africa, and also in the plains of South America.

The main wheat producer is China, followed by America. Following them are such major producer countries: India, Russia, France, Canada, Ukraine, Turkey, Kazakhstan. Wheat grains are an important agricultural object of international trade, accounting for almost 60% of grain exports. The main exporter of wheat is America. Behind it go: Canada, France, Australia and Argentina. The main importers are Russia, China, Japan, Egypt, Brazil, Poland, Italy, Korea, Iraq and Morocco.

Wheat varieties are estimated in thousands and have a fairly complex classification, however the main types are two - hard and soft. Soft varieties are also divided into red and white grains. As a rule, they are grown in wet regions. Solid wheat varieties are bred in a drier climate, for example, in areas where the steppe prevails. In Australia and Western Europe, soft varieties are produced. And in such regions as America, Canada, North Africa, West Asia, Argentina and the post-Soviet countries - 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 answer. Like other cereals, wheat has a stem-straw with nodes and hollow interstices. Leaves are simple, linear, two-row, regular. Each of them departs from the node, and consists of a vagina that spans the overlying interstitial like a split tube, and the knot of a long plate. On the border between the plate and the vagina there are three outgrowths: a tongue-shaped tongue that adjoins the stem, and a pair of finger-shaped ears embracing it.

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

The flowers of wheat, as a rule, are bisexual. They have three stamens and a pestle bearing two pinnate stigmas. At the base of the bandage there are 2-3 small flowering films (lodicles), which perform the functions of the perianth. By the time of flowering, the lycouches swell and push apart the scales that surround the flower. Wheat is predominantly a self-pollinated plant, but there are species also with cross pollination. After fertilization, a small solid fruit grows from the ovary - a seed that is retained in the spike by flowering scales.

Grain, or as it is also called grains, is the pericarp, formed from the ovary wall, which is inextricably linked to a single seed containing the embryo and endosperm. The embryo is located in the base of the grain, from the side, and includes the kidney, the spine, and the modified cotyledon adjacent to the endosperm - the scute. When the germ germinates, the root gives the primary root system, the kidney is the "adult" roots of the plant and its aerial organs, and the scutum secrete enzymes to digest the endosperm and conduct its nutrients to the shoot, which by that time began to develop. So your life begins with young wheat. The photo below will help you better understand the structure of its grain.

Grain, sown in the soil, absorbs moisture, swells and sprouts. The embryonic root and kidney go out and grow respectively down and up. On the soil surface, from the first node of the straw, which forms from the kidney, subordinate roots leave, which branch and form the lobe root system. The place where the stem passes into the root is called the root neck. Just above the neck, the lower nodes of the stem are close together. From the sinuses of their leaves lateral shoots develop. This process is called the bushing of wheat.

During the described processes, the plant is called shoot. Then comes the stage of exit into the tube - a rapid elongation of the straw. Following it goes the ear - the formation of the inflorescence. At the time of ear-splitting, the internodes take out an ear eight to ten centimeters above the top sheet.

Grain, which has reached its final size, consists of an embryo and a watery endosperm. At first the endosperm is transparent. As the starch content increases, it becomes white. This stage is called milk ripeness. The moisture content of the grain gradually decreases and its contents become similar to the sticky dough. This stage is called wax ripeness. In the end, when the grain is fully ripe (technically ripe), it becomes firm.

Properties

So, we have already found out what the wheat is. What is hard and soft varieties, we also know. Now let's talk about the properties, thanks to which this culture has found such wide application. Soft and hard varieties, on the one hand, have much in common, but on the other hand they have a number of principal differences, which must be taken into account when using flour. According to historians, the difference between the two main types of wheat grains was known even to the ancient Greeks and Romans, and perhaps even earlier civilizations.

The flour obtained from their soft wheat has soft and rather large starch grains, it has a fine and friable consistency, contains a little gluten and absorbs less water. This type of flour has found application in baking confectionery. For bread, it is not good, because the products from such flour quickly become stale and crumbles. In areas where soft flour is prevalent, bread is usually baked from a mixture of local soft variety and imported hard.

Flour, obtained from a solid wheat variety, has small and solid starch grains, a fine-grained consistency, and is characterized by a high content of gluten. This flour is called "strong", as it absorbs a lot of water and is used in baking bread. Macaroni from hard wheat is also a popular product.

Application area

The importance of wheat in human life has always been weighty. With the increase in the diet of people the share of meat and other non-grain products, the amount of wheat and other cereals they use gradually decreases. Wheat is also widely used as a feed for livestock. At the same time, its milling qualities practically do not affect the nutritional value. In America, for example, forage began to use whole grains, although previously used waste grinding.

Wastes of milling production were fed to cattle back in antiquity. Wastes with a high content of cellulose went to feed cattle and horses, and low - to poultry and pigs. Wheat bran has always been valued as a nutritional supplement to the diet of ewes and cows. Earlier they were also given to horses, in connection with laxative properties. Pigs are best suited for small bran, which includes embryos and flour attached to them. It is most effective to use them together with fish meal, milk by-products and slaughter waste, as an additive to the grain feed. In poultry farming, especially broiler farming, the use of milling waste has recently been declining, due to the growing popularity of low-fiber rations.

From protein contained in wheat grains, sodium glutamate was first obtained. It is a substance that enhances the taste of foods. In Japan, sodium glutamate has been widely used in the manufacture of soy sauces. However, now he has learned to receive from the same soy.

Until recently, applied wheat research 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 fragile and readily soluble in water, which means they are not of commercial value.

In recent years, there has been a tendency to reduce consumption of bread, which revives interest in studying non-traditional ways of using wheat. So, from flour, with the help of special processing, they learned how to get "soluble" dishes, reminiscent of the appearance of semolina porridge, make high-protein cereal for a quick breakfast of gluten, wheat starch is used to harden paper. And sprouts of wheat, whose useful properties have been proven, and at all began to eat in raw form.

Adhesive and viscous properties of flour have found application in industry. Flour is used as an additive to drilling fluids used in oil production. And when gold is extracted from the solution, it serves as a flocculating agent. In addition, flour is used in the production of drywall for better binding of mineral and paper parts, and also serves as a filler for waterproof glues for plywood. And these are only the most common ways of using wheat flour in the industry.

Classification

From an economic point of view, not all wheat is important. The value of the plant depends on the species. The most profitable, and, therefore, common, are three types of wheat: summer / soft / common, hard, and dense-bred / dwarfish. The first species is grown all over the world and is used mainly in bakery production. Grain of the second kind is used for the production of pasta, as they are rich in gluten. It is a mixture of proteins, forming a sticky mass, which binds the dough well and keeps bubbles of carbon dioxide in it. Thanks to gluten, the dough rises, and the bread becomes lush. As for dwarf wheat, the flour from it is used mainly for friable baking.

Summer wheat is bred in the largest volumes. Its glume scales have a comb structure only in the upper part. The bottom floral scales are scanty. The straw of such wheat is usually hollow. From dwarf wheat common is elongated, loose or compact, dorsoventrally flattened ears. A distinctive feature of hard wheat is the sharp crests, located along the entire length of the spikelet. In addition, she usually has spinous, inferior florets. Solomin durum wheat, as a rule, is not complete.

Varieties of wheat are also divided into spring and winter crops. Spring wheat is usually grown in regions with too harsh winter. They sow it in the spring. Winter wheat is sown in autumn, and is cleaned for the next summer. This is the most common species, as it begins to develop earlier than spring wheat, ripens faster, and yields a higher yield.

Ecology

Wheat safely grows in a wide range of climatic conditions, and is bred almost in all agricultural areas, except perhaps the tropics. Therefore, the cultivation of wheat is developed almost all over the world. In resistance to cold, it loses only barley, potatoes and some forage grass. The heat for wheat is also not terrible, unless it is combined with high humidity. In the latter case, the grains suffer from various diseases, which reduces the profitability of their cultivation.

Despite the fact that this culture can grow hardly anywhere, there are two main belts, where wheat is grown especially productively. The first is between 30 and 55 degrees north latitude, and the second is between 25 and 40 degrees south latitude. Annual rainfall in these areas averages between 300 and 1100 mm. The optimal amount of precipitation for a good harvest is 250-1000 mm per year. Growth of wheat occurs in the temperature range from 3 to 32 degrees. Because of too early sowing, shoots can get sick, exactly, as well as because of too late (if it is a question of winter wheat).

Spring wheat, as a rule, is sown from March to May, it all depends on local weather conditions. Harvest begins to clean when the moisture content of the grain drops to 13%. Spring wheat completely ripens in about 100 frost-free days. If you remove it before, you will have to resort to drying. A later cleaning is fraught with loss of volume, as the overripe grain begins to crumble to the ground.

Winter wheat is grown, among other things, for livestock feed. When the outlets reach a length of 15-20 cm, grazing begins on the wheat field. If the next year from the same field is planned to harvest grain, then grazing is stopped at the stage of the plant's transition into the tube. In some parts of America, wheat is sown together with winter legumes, and before the beginning of flowering they mow down for silage and hay.

Recycling

The wheat grain has a brownish shell, which, when milled, produces bran rich in protein, vitamins and cellulose. Under the shell is an aleurone layer consisting of small granules. The embryo lying in the base of the grain is rich in oils, proteins and minerals. All the rest is thin-layered endosperm cells, which are filled with starch grains and gluten, which imparts viscosity to the test.

During the grinding process - operations on obtaining flour from wheat grains, the problem arises of separating starch and gluten from other components of the grain. The fact is that because of the embryo, the flour becomes sticky and quickly darkens, and because of the aleurone layer it acquires a brownish hue. As a result of the cleaning of flour, flour milling waste is formed - bran and fine sifting (flour). They constitute from 15 to 18% of the weight of the purified grain.

Flour composition

Wheat, the photo of which is usually depicted on packets of flour, is a very valuable grain. It contains a large number 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 benefit and harm of which will be considered a little lower, contains almost all the minerals necessary for the life of the human body.

Varieties of flour

Flour is classified according to grades. Let's consider each of them.

The highest grade. It has a white color and is used for making top quality flour products. The latter receive fine porosity and good volume. Flour is great for flaky, yeast and short pastry.

First grade. Can be either white or yellowish. It is well suited for making pancakes, rolls, pies and other pastries. For high-quality confectionery and bakery products, this flour is not recommended.

The second grade. Has a yellowish or even a grayish tinge. It produces lush and porous pastries. Use flour of the second grade mainly for white bread and baked baked goods. The most widely used second grade flour was baked in gingerbread and cookies.

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

Coat. It has relatively large, inhomogeneous particles. Has a high moisture capacity and sugar-forming ability. Used for baking mainly table sorts of bread.

Benefit and harm

We have already found out what the wheat is. What is flour, we also know. It remains only to understand the useful and harmful properties of this flour itself.

Flour promotes the acceleration of metabolism, stimulates the brain and produces estrogen, protects the cardiovascular system, reduces the risk of gallstones, and also contributes to the treatment of osteoporosis and Alzheimer's disease. Substances that are in the composition of 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, whose benefits are undeniable, has some drawbacks. The main disadvantage of wheat flour is its calorie content. In addition, it can increase blood pressure and cause allergic reactions.