“Grain” redirects here. For other uses, see grain (disambiguation).

This article is about grains in general. See also breakfast cereal.

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Oats, barley, and some products made from them

Cereal crops are mostly grasses cultivated for their edible grains or seeds (actually a fruit called a caryopsis). Cereal grains are grown in greater quantities worldwide than any other type of crop and provide more food energy to the human race than any other crop. In some developing nations, cereal grains constitute practically the entire diet of common folk. In developed nations, cereal consumption is more moderate but still substantial. The word cereal derives from Ceres, the name of the Roman goddess of harvest and agriculture. Grains are traditionally called corn in the United Kingdom, though that word became specified for maize in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view. ... Serial is a term, originating in literature, for a format by which a story is told in contiguous installments in sequential issues of a single periodical publication. ... Oats, barley, and some products made from them. ... Oats, barley, and some products made from them. ... Agriculture (a term which encompasses farming) is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other goods by the systematic raising of plants and animals. ... Subfamilies There are 7 subfamilies: Subfamily Arundinoideae Subfamily Bambusoideae Subfamily Centothecoideae Subfamily Chloridoideae Subfamily Panicoideae Subfamily Pooideae Subfamily Stipoideae The true grasses are monocotyledonous plants (Class Liliopsida) in the Family Poaceae, also known as Gramineae. ... A ripe red jalapeno cut open to show the seeds For other uses, see Seed (disambiguation). ... Fruit stall in Barcelona, Spain. ... In botany, a caryopsis is a type of simple dry fruit — one that is moncarpelate (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. ... Food energy is the amount of energy in food that is available through digestion. ... Trinomial name Homo sapiens sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Humans, or human beings, are bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens (Latin for wise man or knowing man) under the family Hominidae (known as the great apes). ... A developing country is a country with low average income compared to the world average. ... A developed country is a country that is technologically advanced and that enjoys a relatively high standard of living. ... Ceres, in Roman mythology, equivalent to the Greek Demeter (see which for more details), daughter of Saturn and Rhea, wife-sister of Jupiter, mother of Proserpina by Jupiter, sister of Juno, Vesta, Neptune and Pluto, and patron of Sicily. ... Binomial name Zea mays L. Maize (Zea mays ssp. ...

Production

The following table shows annual production of major cereal grains, in 1961^[1] and 2005, ranked by 2005 production.[1] All but buckwheat and quinoa are true grasses (these two are pseudocereals). 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Binomial name Fagopyrum esculentum Common Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is a plant in the genus Fagopyrum (sometimes merged into genus Polygonum) in the family Polygonaceae. ... Binomial name Chenopodium quinoa Willd. ...

Maize, wheat and rice, between them, accounted for 87% of all grain production, worldwide, and 43% of all food calories in 2003.[2] Other grains that are important in some places, but that have little production globally (and are not included in FAO statistics), include: A tonne (also called metric ton) is a non-SI unit of mass, accepted for use with SI, defined as: 1 tonne = 103 kg (= 106 g). ... Binomial name Zea mays L. Maize (Zea mays ssp. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa. ... Sheep are commonly bred as livestock. ... Species T. boeoticum T. compactum T. dicoccoides T. dicoccon T. durum T. monococcum T. spelta T. sphaerococcum References:   ITIS 42236 2002-09-22 Wheat (Triticum spp. ... In geography, temperate latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. ... Species Oryza glaberrima Oryza sativa Rice refers to two species (Oryza sativa and Oryza glaberrima) of grass, native to tropical and subtropical southern & southeastern Asia and to Africa, which together provide more than one fifth of the calories consumed by humans[1]. (The term wild rice can refer to wild... The tropics are the geographic region of the Earth centered on the equator and limited in latitude by the two tropics: the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere. ... Binomial name Hordeum vulgare L. Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is a major food and animal feed crop, a member of the grass family Poaceae. ... Malted barley Malting is a process applied to cereal grains, in which the grains are made to germinate and then are quickly dried before the plant develops. ... Species About 30 species, see text Sorghum is a genus of about 20 species of grasses, native to tropical and subtropical regions of Eastern Africa, with one species native to Mexico. ... Pearl millet in the field Ripe head of proso millet For other uses, see Millet (disambiguation). ... Binomial name Avena sativa Carolus Linnaeus (1753) The Oat (Avena sativa) is a species of cereal grain, and the seeds of this plant. ... Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots2 Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen of the UK Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification    - by... Binomial name Secale cereale M.Bieb. ... Triticale Triticale (X Triticosecale) is an artificial hybrid of rye and wheat first bred in laboratories during the late 19th century, but only recently developed into a viable crop. ... // In biology, hybrid has two meanings. ... Species T. boeoticum T. compactum T. dicoccoides T. dicoccon T. durum T. monococcum T. spelta T. sphaerococcum References:   ITIS 42236 2002-09-22 Wheat (Triticum spp. ... Binomial name Secale cereale M.Bieb. ... Binomial name Secale cereale M.Bieb. ... Binomial name Fagopyrum esculentum Common Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is a plant in the genus Fagopyrum (sometimes merged into genus Polygonum) in the family Polygonaceae. ... World map showing Europe Political map (neighboring countries in Asia and Africa also shown) Europe is one of the seven traditional continents of the Earth. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ... Pancakes are a kind of flatbread prepared from a batter that is baked on a hot griddle or frying pan. ... Groats are the hulled and crushed grains of various cereals, such as oats, wheat or buckwheat. ... Binomial name Digitaria exilis (Kippist) Stapf Synonyms Paspalum exile Kippist Syntherisma exilis (Kippist) Newbold White fonio (Digitaria exilis) is the most important of a diverse group of wild and domesticated Digitaria species that are harvested in the savannas of west Africa. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa. ... Binomial name Chenopodium quinoa Willd. ... The Andes form the longest mountain chain in the world. ... Binomial name Zea mays L. Maize (Zea mays ssp. ... Species T. boeoticum T. compactum T. dicoccoides T. dicoccon T. durum T. monococcum T. spelta T. sphaerococcum References:   ITIS 42236 2002-09-22 Wheat (Triticum spp. ... Species Oryza glaberrima Oryza sativa Rice refers to two species (Oryza sativa and Oryza glaberrima) of grass, native to tropical and subtropical southern & southeastern Asia and to Africa, which together provide more than one fifth of the calories consumed by humans[1]. (The term wild rice can refer to wild... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Possible meanings: Faro Airport (Portugal) Federation of Astrobiology Organizations Financial Aid Office Food and Agriculture Organization This page expands a three-character combination which might be any or all of: an abbreviation, an acronym, an initialism, a word in English, or a word in another language. ...

• Teff, popular in Ethiopia but scarcely known elsewhere
• Wild rice, grown in small amounts in North America
• Spelt, a close relative of wheat
• Grain amaranth, ancient pseudocereal, formerly the staple crop of the Aztec Empire
• Kañiwa, close relative of quinoa, to which it is quite similar

Binomial name Eragrostis tef (Zucc. ... Species Zizania aquatica Zizania latifolia Zizania palustris Zizania texana The four species of wild rice comprise the genus Zizania, a group of grasses that grow in shallow water in small lakes and slow-flowing streams. ... Binomial name Triticum aestivum spelta L. Spelt (Triticum aestivum spelta) is a subspecies of common wheat. ... Species See text. ... The word Aztec is usually used as a historical term, although some contemporary Nahuatl speakers would consider themselves Aztecs. ... Binomial name Chenopodium pallidicaule Aellen Kañiwa is a species of goosefoot, similar in character and uses to the closely related to quinoa. ... Binomial name Chenopodium quinoa Willd. ...

Cultivation

A wheat field in Dorset, England.

While each individual species has its own peculiarities, the cultivation of all cereals crops is similar. All are annual plants; consequently one planting yields one harvest. Wheat, rye, triticale, oats, barley, and spelt are the cool-season cereals. These are hardy plants that grow well in moderate weather and cease to grow in hot weather (approximately 30 °C but this varies by species and variety). The other warm-season cereals are tender and prefer hot weather. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... For other uses, see Dorset (disambiguation). ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq... Peas are an annual plant. ... The Celsius scale is a temperature scale named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701 â€“ 1744), who first proposed a similar system two years before his death. ...

Barley and rye are the hardiest cereals, able to overwinter in the subarctic and Siberia. Wheat is the most popular. All cool-season cereals are grown in the tropics, but only in the cool highlands, where it may be possible to grow multiple crops in a year. The subarctic is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic and covering much of Canada and Siberia, the north of Scandinavia, northern Mongolia and the extreme north of Heilongjiang. ... Siberian Federal District (dark red) and the broadest definition of Siberia (red) Siberia (Russian: , Sibir’; Tatar: Seber) is a vast region of Russia and northern Kazakhstan constituting almost all of Northern Asia. ...

Planting

The warm-season cereals are grown in tropical lowlands year-round and in temperate climates during the frost-free season.

Cool-season cereals are well-adapted to temperate climates. Most varieties of a particular species are either winter or spring types. Winter varieties are sown in the autumn, germinate and grow vegetatively, then become dormant during winter. They resume growing in the springtime and mature in late spring or early summer. This cultivation system makes optimal use of water and frees the land for another crop early in the growing season. Winter varieties do not flower until springtime because they require vernalization (exposure to low temperature for a genetically determined length of time). Where winters are too warm for vernalization or exceed the hardiness of the crop (which varies by species and variety), farmers grow spring varieties. Spring cereals are planted in early springtime and mature later that same summer, without vernalization. Spring cereals typically require more irrigation and yield less than winter cereals. Dormancy is a arrested plant growth. ...

Harvest

Once the cereal plants have grown their seeds, they have completed their life cycle. The plants die and become brown and dry. As soon as the parent plants and their seed kernels are reasonably dry, harvest can begin.

In developed countries, cereal crops are universally machine-harvested, typically using a combine harvester, which cuts, threshes, and winnows the grain during a single pass across the field. In developing countries, a variety of harvesting methods are in use, from combines to hand tools such as scythes. A postage stamp of a combine honors Russian agriculture. ...

If a crop is harvested during wet weather, the grain may not dry adequately in the field to prevent spoilage during its storage. In this case, the grain is sent to a dehydrating facility, where artificial heat dries it.

In North America, farmers commonly deliver their newly harvested grain to a grain elevator, a large storage facility that consolidates the crops of many farmers. The farmer may sell the grain at the time of delivery or maintain ownership of a share of grain in the pool for later sale. Grain elevators are buildings or complexes of buildings for storage and shipment of grain. ...

Food value

Chickens are often fed grains such as wheat

Cereal grains supply most of their food energy as starch. They are also a significant source of protein, though the amino acid balance is not optimal. Whole grains (see below) are good sources of dietary fiber, essential fatty acids, and other important nutrients. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1600x1067, 534 KB) Chickens Feeding on grain File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Cereal ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1600x1067, 534 KB) Chickens Feeding on grain File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Cereal ... Food energy is the amount of energy in food that is available through digestion. ... Starch is a complex carbohydrate which is insoluble in water, it is used by plants as a way to store excess glucose. ... A representation of the 3D structure of myoglobin, showing coloured alpha helices. ... An amino acid residue is what is left of an amino acid once a molecule of water has been lost (an H+ from the nitrogenous side and an OH- from the carboxylic side) in the formation of a peptide bond. ... Whole grains are cereal grains which retain the bran and germ as well as the endosperm, in contrast to refined grains which retain only the endosperm. ... Dietary fibers are the indigestible portion of plant foods that move food through the digestive system and absorb water. ... Essential fatty acids, or EFAs, are fatty acids that are required in the human diet. ... // Nutrients and the body A nutrient is any element or compound necessary for or contributing to an organisms metabolism, growth, or other functioning. ...

Rice is eaten as cooked entire grains, although rice flour is also produced. Oats are rolled, ground, or cut into bits (steel-cut oats) and cooked into porridge. Most other cereals are ground into flour or meal, that is milled. The outer layers of bran and germ are removed (see seed). This lessens the nutritional value but makes the grain more resistant to degradation and makes the grain more appealing to many palates. Health-conscious people tend to prefer whole grains, which are not milled. Overconsumption of milled cereals is sometimes blamed for obesity. Milled grains do keep better because the outer layers of the grains are rich in rancidity-prone fats. The waste from milling is sometimes mixed into a prepared animal feed. Porridge & Milk For the British TV comedy, see Porridge (TV series) Porridge (also known in American English as hot cereal or mush), is a simple dish made by boiling oats (normally crushed oats, occasionally oatmeal) or another meal in water, milk or both. ... Look up flour in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A ripe red jalapeno cut open to show the seeds For other uses, see Seed (disambiguation). ... It has been suggested that Diet (nutrition) be merged into this article or section. ... For other uses, see Fat (disambiguation). ... In agriculture, fodder or animal feed is any foodstuff that is used specifically to feed livestock, such as cattle, sheep, chickens and pigs. ...

Once (optionally) milled and ground, the resulting flour is made into bread, pasta, desserts, dumplings, and many other products. Besides cereals, flour is sometimes made from potatoes, chestnuts and pulses (especially chickpeas). Percentages are relative to US RDI values for adults. ... Percentages are relative to US RDI values for adults. ... A selection of desserts Dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a dinner, usually consisting of sweet food but sometimes of a strongly-flavored one, such as some cheeses. ... For the film, see Dumplings (movie) Dumplings may be any of a wide variety of dishes, both sweet and savoury, in several different cuisines. ... Binomial name Solanum tuberosum L. The potato (Solanum tuberosum) is a perennial plant of the Solanaceae, or nightshade, family, commonly grown for its starchy tuber. ... Species - Bush Chinkapin* - Japanese Chestnut - American Chestnut - Henrys Chestnut - Chinese Chestnut - Ozark Chinkapin - Alleghany Chinkapin - Sweet Chestnut - Seguins Chestnut * treated as a synonym of by many authors Chestnuts (Castanea), including the chinkapins, are a genus of eight or nine species of trees and shrubs in the beech family... The Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) defines pulses as annual leguminous crops yielding from one to 12 grains or seeds of variable size, shape and colour within a pod. ... Binomial name Cicer arietinum L. The chickpea, chick pea, garbanzo bean, ceci bean, bengal gram or chana (Cicer arietinum) is an edible pulse of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. ...

Cereals are the main source of energy providing about 350 kcal per 100 grams. Cereal proteins are typically poor in nutritive quality, being deficient in essential amino acid lysine. The proteins of maize are particularly poor, being deficient in lysine and tryptophan (a precursor of niacin). Rice proteins are richer in lysine than other common cereal proteins and for this reason, rice protein is considered to be of better quality. Rice is a good source of B group vitamins, especially thiamine. It is devoid of vitamins A, D, C and is a poor source of calcium and iron. Lysine is one of the 20 amino acids normally found in proteins. ... Tryptophan is an amino acid and essential in human nutrition. ... Niacin, also known as nicotinic acid or vitamin B3, is a water-soluble vitamin whose derivatives such as NADH, NAD, NAD+, and NADP play essential roles in energy metabolism in the living cell and DNA repair. ... Retinol (Vitamin A) Vitamins are nutrients required for essential metabolic reactions in the body [1]. Vitamins can act both as catalysts and participants in chemical reactions. ... For the similarly-spelled nucleic acid, see Thymine Thiamine or thiamin, also known as vitamin B1, is a colorless compound with chemical formula C12H17N4OS. It is soluble in water and insoluble in alcohol. ... General Name, Symbol, Number calcium, Ca, 20 Chemical series alkaline earth metals Group, Period, Block 2, 4, s Appearance silvery white Atomic mass 40. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Atomic mass 55. ...

In English, cold breakfast cereals and porridges are simply called cereal. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view. ...

Notes

Possible meanings: Faro Airport (Portugal) Federation of Astrobiology Organizations Financial Aid Office Food and Agriculture Organization This page expands a three-character combination which might be any or all of: an abbreviation, an acronym, an initialism, a word in English, or a word in another language. ...

See also

Look up Cereal in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Zadoks scale
• List of edible seeds

Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wiktionary is a Wikimedia Foundation project intended to be a free wiki dictionary (hence: Wiktionary) (including thesaurus and lexicon) in every language. ... The Zadoks scale is a cereal development scale proposed by the Dutch phytopathologist Jan C. Zadoks that is widely used in cereal research and agriculture. ... A variety of species can provide edible seeds: Almonds Amaranthus Beans/Legumes, including Chickpeas Broad beans Lentils Peas Peanuts Phaseolus beans Soybeans Sweet peas (Lathyrus) Cocoa Carob tree Cereals, including Barley Buckwheat Kamut Maize Oats Rice Rye Sorghum Spelt Triticale Teff Wild rice Wheat Coconuts Common Hazel Coriander Ginkgo Monkey...

External links

• The Cereal site
• Home Grown Cereals Authority website. Retrieved on 2006-09-08.

Grains (Cereals and Pseudocereals)
Amaranth - Barley – Buckwheat – Fonio – Job's Tears – Kañiwa – Maize (Corn) – Millet – Oat – Quinoa – Rice – Rye – Sorghum – Spelt – Triticale – Teff – Wild rice – Wheat (Bulgur – Couscous – Kamut)