cereal farming

cereal farming

Introduction
 growing (plant) of cereal crops for human food and livestock feed, as well as for other uses, including industrial starch.

      Cereals, or grains, are members of the grass family cultivated primarily for their starchy seeds (technically, dry fruits). Wheat, rice, corn (maize), rye, oats, barley, sorghum, and some of the millets are common cereals.

      The cultivation of cereals varies widely in different countries and depends partly upon the degree of economic development. The condition and purity of the seed has received increasing attention. Other factors include the nature of the soil, the amount of rainfall, and the techniques applied to promote growth. In illustrating production problems, this article uses wheat as the example. For information on the cultivation of other cereal crops such as rice, see articles on the individual crops. For information on the food value and processing of cereals, see the article cereal processing.

Cultivation of wheat
      Wheat can be cultivated over a wide range of soils (soil) and can be successfully grown over large portions of the world, ranging in altitude from sea level to over 10,000 feet. Annual rainfall of 10 inches (254 millimetres) is generally considered the minimum, and the soil should be sufficiently fertile. (Barley can be grown in soil less fertile than that required for wheat.) Soil benefits from a good humus content (partially decayed organic matter), and chemical fertilizers are also helpful.

      Purity of the seed is important. The seed wheat (or other cereal seeds) must be true to its particular variety and as free as possible from foreign seeds. Seeds are frequently cleaned to avoid contamination by other seed crops. Modern cleaning methods employ such devices as oscillating sieves or revolving cylinders. Seed obtained with a combine harvester is often unsuited for use as seed wheat without preliminary treatment. Spring and winter varieties exist for both wheat and barley. Winter varieties generally produce better crops. Winter wheat should form a good root system, and the plant should begin to form new shoots before the cold weather sets in; winter wheat is likely to have more tillers than spring wheat.

      The rate of sowing varies from 20 pounds per acre (22.5 kilograms per hectare) upward. Depth of sowing, usually one to three inches (2.5 to 7.5 centimetres), can be less in certain areas.

Breeding
      Wheat and other cereals are self-fertilized. The pollen carried by the stamen of a given flower (plant breeding) impregnates the pistil (stigma and ovary) of the same flower, enabling the variety to breed true. Wheat flowers are grouped in spikelets, each bearing from two to nine flowers, or florets. To produce new varieties by cross-fertilization, the cereal breeder artificially transfers the stamen from one variety to the flower of another before self-fertilization takes place. The production of a sufficient supply of the new type of seeds (seed and fruit) for sowing is time-consuming and expensive, but it allows new varieties to be evolved, retaining the desirable characteristics from each parent. For example, especially in the United Kingdom and Australia, varieties of the wheat that yield well often produce flour of poor baking quality; proper selection of parent plants permits new varieties to be produced that yield well and still possess good baking qualities.

      Other reasons for developing new varieties include resistance to rust (fungus; see below Fungus diseases (cereal farming)) and other diseases, resistance to drought, and development of stronger and shorter straw to make harvesting easier.

Seedbed preparation
      Various types of plowing machinery and other implements are employed to render the soil more suitable for seed wheat planting. The equipment used depends upon such factors as the climate, the nature of the ground, and the rainfall. tillage is the process of preparing soil for cultivation purposes. The practices used and the implements employed vary considerably. Serious soil erosion may require special procedures to maintain clods and plant residues in the soil.

      In North America it is normal practice to grow wheat on the same ground for as long as sufficiently clean crops are produced, but eventually the ground must rest fallow for a year. The moisture of the land at the time of sowing is an important factor. The ancient procedure of growing legumes occasionally to improve the soil is still common in Europe, though less so in North America. Fertilization of the ground is useful to increase the crop yield, but it does not generally increase the protein content of the crop. In the large collective state farms of the Soviet Union, huge harrows set with spikes or teeth are employed, as well as the disk cultivating plow set with disks that break up the soil; the scarifier, a machine that pulverizes the soil, is popular in Australia.

Plant protection
      Winter crops are frequently disturbed by frost, and the ground must then be rolled in the spring to consolidate the soil around the roots. If soil has become crusted by heavy rains followed by surface drying, the crop is usually harrowed in the spring to aerate the soil and kill young weeds. Although all of the required mineral nutrients may be added to the soil at the time of sowing, sometimes only part of the nitrogenous fertilizers is added at that time, and the remainder is applied to the growing crop in the form of a top dressing. In the cultivation of spring wheat all of the fertilizer is usually added before or at sowing time, but sometimes a small portion is reserved for later.

Weeds
      Weeds present difficulties, as they compete with cereal crops for water, light, and mineral nutrients. The infestation of annual seeds planted in a field may cause many weeds in that field for successive years. Charlock or wild mustard, wild oats, crouch grass, and other common weeds are disseminated by wind, water, and birds.

Insects (insect)
      In addition to weeds, wheat and other cereals are seriously affected by insects.

      Grasshoppers (grasshopper) and locusts (locust) cause immense damage. Spraying from airplanes with chemicals such as gamma BHC, Dieldrin, chlordane, or Toxaphene is effective; on small farms grasshopper control is often accomplished by weed killers such as MCPA (2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid) and 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid).

      The eggs of click beetles (click beetle) are laid in the soil, and the larvae, called wireworms, live underground for some years, feeding on the roots and stems of the young plants (particularly slow-growing plants). To combat such damage, chemical seed dressing is used together with nitrogenous fertilizers. Other measures use such chemicals as gamma BHC (Lindane) or Dieldrin.

      Aphids (aphid) attack many plants, and the wheat aphid, or greenbug, causes damage throughout the world. Preventive action includes preparing a good seedbed, sufficient fertilization, and early sowing.

      The wheat stem sawfly (Cephus cinctus) is found in many parts of the world. Infested wheat shows fallen straw filled with a fine sawdust material harbouring brown-headed larvae that pass the winter in the base of the wheat straw; the wasplike adult insect emerges around June. The females thrust their eggs into the upper plant tissues, and the larvae feed within the stem toward the base until the stem collapses. Varieties of Manitoba wheat such as Rescue and Chinook are reasonably resistant to the pest, and thorough plowing in of the infested stubble is generally effective. Certain crops, such as brome grass (bromegrass), attract this pest and may be grown on the borders of wheat crops to distract the pests away from the wheat. The Hessian fly (Mayetiola, or Phytophaga, destructor), resembling the mosquito, attacks the stems of wheat, barley, and rye. Late wheat usually escapes damage from this pest.

      Many wheats in central Europe and the Middle East have shown evidence of attacks from the wheat bug (Weizen-wanze, or blé punaisé). The two main varieties are the Aelia and the Eurygaster. The eggs are laid in the spring, and the new generation appears in the summer. When the wheat is harvested, the bugs leave the stubble field and migrate to nearby foliage for the winter. To thrive and multiply, wheat bugs require sun, warmth, and absence of pronounced dampness.

      The wheat bugs puncture the grain and introduce by means of their saliva an enzyme that profoundly modifies the nature of the gluten. The puncture mark can be seen on the grain, usually surrounded by a yellow patch, and sometimes the grain is shrivelled. The main damage comes from attacks on the grain just before maturity. Although the insects leave, the damaged grain remains normal in size and remains in the wheat mixture sent to the mill.

      The gluten of flour produced from infected wheat rapidly loses its cohesion upon standing in water, eventually disintegrating completely. Strong wheats resist wheat-bug attack better than soft, weak wheats do. There is little change in strong baking flours if only 1 percent of the grains are affected; in flour from soft wheats, the damage with even 1 percent to 2 percent of the grains affected can make the baking quality unacceptable. Countries in which the crop is affected by this pest include Romania, Hungary, Greece, and Morocco.

fungus diseases
      In the fungus group known as rust, the chief damage is caused by black rust (Puccinia graminis). Because this fungus spends part of its life on cereals and part on the barberry bush, these bushes are often eradicated near wheat fields as a preventive measure. Black rust causes cereal plants to lose their green colour and turn yellow. The grain produced is small, shrivelled, and has a low weight per bushel. New wheats, more resistant to rust, are being introduced.

      In many countries wheat is attacked by smut. Stinking smut (or bunt) is fairly common in the United Kingdom. Malformed grains are produced, filled with black spores that spread over noninfected grain and give off a “fishy” smell.

       ergot (Claviceps purpurea) is a fungus more often attacking rye than wheat. It forms a dark purple mass, larger than the grain, containing 30 percent fatty material and the alkaloid ergotoxine, which has a profound pharmacological effect on the human and animal body and can produce abortion. Much of this fungus is likely to be removed in the mill screen room, and the clean grain sent on to the mill should contain not more than 0.04 percent of this fungus and preferably less.

Harvesting
      In the developed countries, harvesting of wheat and often other cereals is done principally by the combine harvester (farm machinery), though in the developing countries the ancient scythe, sickle, and flail are still widely used.

      The mechanical ancestor of today's large combines was the McCormick reaper, introduced in 1831 and followed by self-raking reapers that delivered the cut grain in bunches on the ground to be bound by hand. In 1843 a “stripper” was brought out in Australia that removed the wheat heads from the plants and threshed them in a single operation. Threshing machines (thresher) were powered first by men or animals, often using treadmills, later by steam and internal-combustion engines. The modern combine harvester, originally introduced in California about 1875, came into wide use in the United States in the 1920s and '30s and in the United Kingdom in the 1940s. In 1940 the self-propelled combine was introduced. The combine cuts the standing grain, threshes out the grain from the straw and chaff, cleans the grain, and discharges it into bags or grain reservoirs. Other crops also can be worked by adaptations of the machine, and the reduction in harvesting time and labour is striking; in 1829 harvesting one acre of wheat required 14 man-hours, while the modern combine requires less than 30 minutes. In the early part of the 19th century harvesting a bushel of wheat required three man-hours' work; today it takes five minutes.

      For satisfactory results, crops should not be too damp and should be reasonably ripe. If the grain contains over 14 percent moisture, as often happens in the United Kingdom and other European countries, it must be dried after harvesting under controlled conditions to avoid damage to the gluten. Rice can be combine-harvested, but because of its high moisture content (approaching 20 percent) it must be immediately dried.

Grading
      Wheat is an important commodity (commodity trade) in international commerce, and many attempts have been made to ensure reliability in grading. In North America excellent grading allows the buyer to ascertain the type and standard of wheat acquired. Canada has statutory grades for most of its wheats. For wheat moving overseas from the terminal positions, standard export samples are used in grading.

      Flour from an inferior grade is not automatically weaker than the top grade.

      In the U.S. much of the wheat is officially graded, notably the hard spring and the hard winter wheats. Grading also takes place in Argentina and Australia, although it is not usually as precise as in North America. In many countries there is little commercial grading of wheat, and the buyer relies on his own testing and assessments of wheat arrivals. In Australia “fair average quality” (FAQ) indicates wheat not obviously unsatisfactory visually but takes no account of the baking strength and the character of the flour yielded. In recent years, however, considerable improvement in grading has taken place, especially when hard strong varieties are sold, as in the case of special high-protein Australian wheat from northwestern New South Wales and from Queensland.

      In the U.K. there is no official wheat or barley grading as in North America. Barley is bought on appearance or by named variety. This is largely true in much of Europe, although the former Soviet Union introduced a grading system for wheat covering red spring, durum, white spring, red winter, and white winter, with special subclasses based on factors such as vitreousness, colour, and weight.

      Cereal storage has been of concern from the earliest times; references are made to it in the Bible. Harvest variations from season to season produced carryover requiring storage, a problem that grew with increasing populations and developing commerce. The diary of Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) records the destruction of the wheat storehouses in the Great Fire of London (1666) and mentions the existence of these storehouses from the reign of Henry VIII (ruled 1509–47). With modern international cereal trade, huge silos (silo) are now found at the main points of export and at the docks of importing countries. In the major exporting countries silos at the country elevators (grain elevator) feed the terminal silos; inefficient storage at any of these points makes the cereals highly vulnerable to insects and rodent attack. In certain regions, such as India, losses have amounted to 40 percent of the crop.

      A constant danger also lies in the respiration of the grain. If the moisture content of grain is low (10–12 percent), a rise in temperature resulting from respiration is unlikely; but if the bulk is large and the moisture content high (over 16 percent), the heat may not be dissipated, causing the temperature to rise and further increase the rate of respiration. Consequently, cereal stocks are turned over to ventilate the grain and to keep the temperature low. The problem also occurs in the holds of ships; much litigation has resulted from the arrival of hot and damaged cargoes.

      Molds and fungi are other sources of spoilage that have received extensive study in recent years. Cleaning processes remove as much as possible of external molds before storage, but in hot countries, particularly, the problem remains serious. Under primitive conditions the habits and development of communities depended largely on their skill in storing grain.

      Heat is also frequently a cause of loss of weight, loss in milling value, and loss in food value through its provision of a favourable environment for such insects as the grain weevil (Sitophilus granarius), the rice and maize weevils (S. oryzae), the lesser grain borer (Rhizopertha dominica), and the angoumois grain moth (Sitotroga cerealella). These are all endosperm borers. Among the grain germ eaters are the rust-red grain beetle (Cryptolestes ferrugineus), the saw-toothed grain beetle (Oryzaephilus surinamensis), the khapra beetle (Trogoderma granarium), and the warehouse moth (Ephestia elutella).

      Secondary pests include the mill pest known as the Mediterranean flour moth (Anagasta kuehniella), the confused flour beetle (Tribolium confusum), the rust-red flour beetle (T. castaneum), the flat grain beetle (Cryptolestes pusillus), the broad-horned flour beetle (Gnathocerus cornutus), the cadelle beetle (Tenebroides mauritanicus), and a number of miscellaneous insects, including the yellow mealworm (Tenebrio molitor), the Australian spider beetle, and the biscuit beetle. Of the mites that invade mills, storehouses and bakeries, the commonest is the flour mite (Acarus siro).

      Good housekeeping, with special attention to sacks and bags and their regular cleaning and disinfecting, contributes to insect control. Frequently used insecticides include inert dusts, Pyrethrum (and synergists), gamma BHC. Other contact insecticides or fumigation may be required. The common fumigator is hydrogen cyanide, but methyl bromide and ethylene oxide have been recommended.

      In Canada most of the older elevators hold 20,000 to 30,000 bushels (705 to 1,060 cubic metres) of grain, but some hold as much as 100,000 bushels (3,500 cubic metres). A Canadian elevator system at Port Cartier on the St. Lawrence River is designed for the berthing of supertankers; licensed storage capacity of this installation is 10,500,000 bushels (370,000 cubic metres). Unloading of lake vessels can be carried out at 88,000 bushels (3,100 cubic metres) an hour; the two shipping belts each have maximum capacities of 50,000 bushels (1,760 cubic metres) an hour.

      In the U.S. storage facilities are similar, though the proportion of wheat exported is not as great as in Canada. Many interior terminals in the U.S. handle large amounts of grain received directly from farmers.

      Storage methods in Australia have improved considerably, with increasing attention given to country storing and the modernization of terminal elevators. There has been a change from bag to bulk handling; 95 percent of the grain was bulk handled by the end of the 1960s. Huge terminal elevators operate in Sydney and Newcastle.

      In Argentina large terminal elevators deal with a major export trade, but grading is not as reliable as that in North America. Argentine ports receive the wheat grown in their respective areas, which gives buyers some guidance on grade and type. Considerable quantities of corn (maize) are also exported from Argentina, with precautions taken to ensure reasonably low moisture content to prevent deterioration of cargoes in shipment.

      Handling of grain received in Europe from overseas is a large operation. The Tilbury Grain Terminal in London (United Kingdom) is a good example of modern grain handling. Capable of servicing bulk carriers of up to 65,000 tons (59,000,000 kilograms), at a maximum rate of 2,000 tons (1,800,000 kilograms) an hour, the terminal feeds adjacent mills and offers a deepwater outlet for transshipment to both rail and road. Two marine leg (dockside) elevators each have a discharge rate of 1,000 tons an hour. Normal silo capacity of 105,000 tons can be extended to 240,000 tons. The silos are 127 feet (38.7 metres) high and individual bin capacities range from 60 to 900 tons.

Douglas W. Kent-Jones Ed.

Additional Reading
Y. Pomeranz, Modern Cereal Science and Technology (1987), discusses common aspects of cereal grains and their products followed by in-depth descriptions of selected cereals. Neal C. Stoskopf, Cereal Grain Crops (1985), is also useful for an overview. Various grains and their production are investigated in Y. Pomeranz (ed.), Wheat: Chemistry and Technology, 3rd ed. (1988); L.T. Evans and W.J. Peacock (eds.), Wheat Science, Today and Tomorrow (1981), a collection of essays on current international wheat research; Robert W. Jugenheimer, Corn: Improvement, Seed Production, and Uses (1976, reprinted 1985); D.H. Grist, Rice, 6th ed. (1986); D.E. Briggs, Barley (1978); and Hugh Doggett, Sorghum, 2nd ed. (1988).Douglas W. Kent-Jones Ed.

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Universalium. 2010.

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