Wheat spike. Growing rye and other cereal plants at home. What is the difference between wheat and rye
The ear is one of the varieties of inflorescences of angiosperms and consists of an elongated main axis with flowers located on it. The type of ear depends on the number of flowers. The simple type includes an ear with the presence of single flowers, and the complex one is already represented by several flowers. It is to the second type that the ear of wheat, one of the most important food crops, belongs.
Grain characteristics
Wheat (lat. triticum) is one of the brightest representatives of the cereal family, belongs to the class of monocots and is the first cereal cultivated by man. The place of origin of the culture was disputed for a long time, however, as a result of a thorough study, the city of Diyarbakir, located in Asia Minor, was still recognized as it.
The stem of the plant has a hollow straight structure with the presence of nodes. Its growth is carried out due to an increase in internodes, the number of which varies from 5 to 7. After the stem outgrows the sheath of the last leaf, the heading process begins. From each fibrous root, up to 12 such stems can grow, each reaching a height of one and a half meters. The leaf of wheat is flat, with a pronounced fibrous and rough to the touch.
The width of the leaves varies from 1.5 to 2 cm and depends on the wheat variety and growing conditions. The presence of hairs on leaf blades also depends on the variety. The ears are up to 15 cm long and are composed of several flowers, which, in turn, consist of two spikelet scales, two films, a pistil, three stamens and a stigma. The fruit of wheat is a grain. Pollination of flowers occurs naturally with the help of wind.
Reproduction of wheat is carried out using seeds that are able to germinate with four roots at once. After the appearance of the first leaves, a secondary root system is formed, capable of penetrating into the earth to a depth of 1 meter. Lateral shoots are formed from the nodal roots, and their number can reach up to 5 pieces.
Wheat is used to produce flour used for the manufacture of bakery and pasta products. Ethyl alcohol is produced from grains, and drugs are made from bran that help lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels in humans. And also the culture is a raw material for the production of animal feed, immunomodulatory drugs and rejuvenating extracts.
Spikelet structure
Each of the varieties of wheat is distinguished by the peculiarities of the spike structure, which in general looks like this: at the mouths of the crankshaft, spikelets are located on both sides, in which there are flowers under the spikelet scales. The segments are arranged in a spiral manner, which ensures the formation of a platform in the upper section. Each area is filled with spikelets, the arrangement of which is alternate: the first one looks to the left, the next one looks to the right, and so on. Thanks to this structure, 2 rows are formed on the sides, and on the front part, one spikelet rests on the other. The color of the ears are white, red, black and gray-smoky.
Spikelet scales are considered one of the important components of the ear: it is according to its structure that wheat is classified into varieties. The scales are represented by two wide plates separated in the middle by a keel. In order to determine what kind of wheat, one should evaluate the flakes of the middle part of the ear, since they are not subject to change under the influence of external factors.
According to their shape, wheat ears are divided into several types:
- fusiform is represented by a wide middle, with a gradual narrowing to the upper and lower sections;
- the prismatic spike is the same across the entire width;
- club-shaped expands to the top, for which it got its name.
grains
The fruit of wheat is presented in the form of a single-seeded grain with a high content of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, starch, disaccharides and dietary fiber. In addition, the grains are rich in a large amount of minerals, vitamins, pectin, phytoestrogens and linoleic acid.
The grain size depends on growing conditions and varies from 5 to 7 mm or more. The shape of the seeds is also varied. There are grains of oval-elongated, ovoid, oval and barrel-shaped shapes with square, rectangular, rounded and oval cross sections. The number of grains in the spikelet also depends on external factors and ranges from 20 to 50 pieces.
Varieties
Wheat is classified according to a number of characteristics, among which are the color of the ear and grains, the presence or absence of awns and pubescence. Spinous species are represented by coarse, thin and intermediate types of awns, the properties of which directly depend on the amount of moisture. So, in the most humid areas, the awns are tender and soft, and in drier areas, they are coarse and brittle. In relation to the spikelet, the awns can run parallel or move to the sides at different angles. The color of the awns also depends on the amount of moisture, and is gray-red with normal moisture, and black with water deficiency.
Wheat is also divided into winter and spring types.
- winter is the most common species and is sown in the autumn. Plants are distinguished by rapid development and maturation, in which spring wheat varieties are significantly ahead. The harvest of winter wheat is harvested the following summer after sowing. The number of spikelets depends on the variety and varies from 16 to 25. The most productive is "Mironovskaya Yubileinaya", which has the highest rate.
- Spring wheat, unlike winter, is characterized by a sharper crest of the glume and a long awn on the lower lemma, which can reach 20 cm. The species is demanding on external factors and is quite thermophilic.
Wheat and rye crops - what is the difference?
Wheat and rye are the best known cultivated cereals and have provided food for mankind for many years. However, despite their prevalence, many city dwellers cannot distinguish between these two cultures.
Rye (lat. Secale) is a representative of the cereal family, and has 12 wild and one cultivated species. The plant is characterized by an upright hollow stem of a knotty structure, the height of which can reach two meters, and bluish, sometimes fleecy leaves, reaching 30 cm in length. The ears have a two-row structure and grow up to 15 cm, the flowers contain 3 stamens. The root system of rye is very powerful, going as deep as two meters, which makes it possible to grow a crop on sandy soils. According to its chemical composition, rye grains are very rich in gluten, carbohydrates, B vitamins and trace elements. Flour is widely used for the manufacture of bakery products, and young shoots of plants are excellent food for animals.
Despite the fact that wheat and rye have so much in common, there are differences between them.
- Seed color. Wheat grains have a golden hue, while rye seeds are green or greenish gray.
- Spikelet structure. Rye has a thin spikelet covered with long mustaches that grow quite densely. Wheat differs, on the contrary, in a thick ear, the whiskers on which, at the time of grain ripening, completely break off.
- Plant height. Rye often reaches a two-meter mark, while wheat does not grow above one and a half meters. However, due to the large length of the stem, rye often “lays down”, which causes certain difficulties during the harvest season.
- Nutritional value and chemical composition. Wheat flour is more nutritious than rye flour, and it produces more delicious baked goods. In addition, the nutritional value of wheat is much higher than that of rye. However, the calorie content of both cultures is almost the same. Thus, the energy value of 100 g of wheat grains is 339 calories, while in rye this figure is 338. In the composition of rye, proteins make up 8.9%, fats - 1.7, and carbohydrates 60.7%. Dietary fiber is present in an amount of 13.2%, and the proportion of mineral components is 1.9% of the total volume. Wheat contains 13% proteins, 2.5% lipids, 67% carbohydrates and 10% dietary fiber. In addition, wheat grains contain a lot of starch and sugar.
Therefore, the nutritional value of wheat exceeds that of rye, which is rightfully a dietary food product.
- Cultivation and care. Both species are grown winter and spring. However, wheat is the most vulnerable species, and does not tolerate severe frosts and lack of snow. In completely snowless winters, winter wheat may die. This is due to the fact that the tillering of wheat stalks occurs very low. Rye is superior to wheat in terms of adaptability and frost resistance. The plant is able to withstand 30-degree frosts and tolerates the complete absence of snow cover well. In addition, rye can easily grow on depleted clay and sandy soils, while wheat requires exceptionally fertile chernozems and podzolic soils. Wheat does not like high acidity, while this indicator does not have such a significant effect on rye.
- Susceptibility to diseases. Compared to rye, wheat is susceptible to more diseases. So, when the soil is waterlogged, the plant is exposed to fungal diseases, while they are not terrible for rye. Despite their differences, both wheat and rye are a valuable source of nutrients and have fed mankind for many centuries.
See the following video for the properties of winter wheat.
wheat ears
Anna Petrovna came to live in Altai during perestroika, moved closer to the children. She always warmly remembered her homeland - Kazakhstan, where her childhood and youth passed in the boundless Kazakh steppe, where she devoted more than forty years of teaching work in the secondary school of the village of Terenyuzyak to the upbringing of the younger generation. She was born in the village of Tikhonovka, Totsky District, Orenburg Region, on September 2, 1930. In 1938, the family moved to Kazakhstan, to the city of Kzyl-Orda. My father got a job as a laborer on the railroad, then, after graduating from the courses of the railway workers, he was sent to siding number 3. For conscientious, shock work, his father was soon appointed on duty at the siding.
There were no schools along the way, the children of railway workers studied at a school in the city of Kzyl-Orda. For a symbolic fee for those times, the children lived in a boarding school, in which there were three groups: boys and two groups of girls: from the first to the fourth grade and from the fifth to the seventh grade. There was also a dining room, a kitchen, an isolation room for the sick, in the same building there was an apartment for the director of the boarding school.
From the memoirs of Anna Petrovna: “We were given 500 g of bread a day: in the morning - three pieces of bread, at lunch - four pieces and for dinner, as in the morning - three. There was other food besides bread, but for some reason I always remember the song that we sang: “Boarding school, boarding school, good food. Tea in the morning, tea in the afternoon, tea in the evening.
The war found our family on the road, I had already moved to study in the 5th grade and was on vacation. The evacuation to the front began, the men went to assembly points in Kzyl-Orda. They didn’t take my father, he, as a railway worker, was already considered for military service, he had a “reservation”. I was the eldest in the family and also the younger sister and brother. Only Kazakhs lived at our junction No. 3, our family was an exception, Russian. But I don’t remember that there were conflicts between families, we lived very amicably, well, and in difficult times the neighbors helped each other.
Already in the summer of 1941, many evacuees from the western territories, occupied by the enemy, arrived at our junction and in the city of Kzyl-Orda. He supervised all affairs at the junction: he resolved all issues, accepted the evacuees, distributed them to apartments, arranged a job for the chairman. They called him "molda" - a big boss, everyone obeyed him. In those years, there were a lot of lakes near our junction, and on the way to the lakes there were impenetrable thickets of reeds. Reeds were harvested almost on an industrial scale. From the harvested reeds they made shields, wove mats, large baskets and much more. Molda hired workers among the evacuated population. They paid for such work with products, there were always plenty of people who wanted to work at such an object. Often, the entire male population of the junction was alerted, when they were looking for deserters, they could hide in impenetrable thickets of reeds. The men were forced to comb the thickets with a chain, looking for deserters.
They lived hungry, there was not enough food, now it’s hard to remember how and where the parents got food. We, the children, gathered the ears of wheat that had fallen or broken off from the stalk in the harvested grain field, but God forbid the overseer of the fields caught the eye. With a whip it comes out so that you will remember for a long time. And they were glad that they did not say where they should be - otherwise the prison for their parents is inevitable. And if you manage to collect the ears, you will bring them home secretly, so that no one can see, in the dark. The ears were peeled with their hands, freed from chaff, winnowed in the wind, then mother took dermen from neighbors (these are such millstones), sat down together with mother opposite each other, twisted the circle, poured the grains into the center of the circle - the grains were ground into flour. You sit for several hours at this business, your back is taken away, and your mother bakes only two cakes and the flour is all over.
My father sometimes managed to get out hunting. Many kilometers in winter will pass through the steppe, when he comes with an empty bag, when he brings a hare, he went fishing. Mom smoked fish in a Russian stove, and then we ran to passing trains - we sold fish to passengers. My mother was a craftswoman and needlewoman - she sewed, embroidered, knitted to order. And she also knew the Kazakh language very well, she explained herself easily and could persuade anyone to buy at least something from her. She walked along the nearest sidings, exchanged skillfully woven lace for food. Parents then bought bread with the proceeds, but they spent it on clothes for us. And I also remember that a certain norm was set for each family to knit woolen socks for the soldiers of the Red Army, I don’t remember how many pairs. My sister and I pulled wool, my mother spun yarn, and then my mother and I knitted socks together. Once a week people came from the city and took away the finished products.
The railroad workers were given food cards, a shop came, and with the cards you could buy soap, sugar, flour and something else, I don’t remember. Salt was in abundance, the Aral Sea was 5 hours away, salt was harvested there. But drinking water was spent carefully, it was brought by rail 2 times a month in huge vats. A large well was made near the road. The platform with the vat was driven to the well and filled with water through the chute using a hose, and only then the residents of our station were allowed to disassemble the water. Most likely, there were also coupons for water, I don’t remember that they collected water as much as they wanted, there was always not enough water, like bread.
When studies began in September, we went to a boarding school in Kzyl-Orda, during our studies we rarely managed to come home, only on vacation, and we had to pay for a train ticket. Sometimes it was lucky to meet a friend who was an auditor on the train for checking tickets, you will ask him, if he is kind, he will take it, but no, no. You go back to the boarding school with tears. Not all trains made a stop at the siding, only they slowed down, it happened that they had to jump out of the train on the move. I was desperate, I jumped without fear. Once, in the next jump, she landed unsuccessfully, fell and lost consciousness. The people came running to look at me, “Is it alive?”. Mom then lost her legs from the disorder. For a long time after this incident, my mother was ill.
I never had extra money, but when I went home for the weekend, I tried to bring even a small, but a gift to my sister and brother, I saved a penny for a gift. Once I was carrying a bottle of lemonade, on the train the guys saw the lemonade and took the bottle from me. I had such grief, and I feel sorry for the money and resentment ate my soul. I don’t remember that some holidays were arranged at that time. Somehow everything was gray and ordinary. I realized that a birthday can be a holiday when I had already graduated from a pedagogical college and received my first salary. I brought my entire salary to the penny. And my mother told me: “Let's go, daughter, to the store, choose a dress for yourself, because today is your birthday.” I still remember the style of the dress and the pattern of flowers on the fabric.”
Anna Petrovna was 14 years old when the war ended. “I was in a boarding school then,” recalls Anna Petrovna, “everyone was sleeping. Suddenly, the cook Polina Kuzminichna came in and happily announced: “Girls, the war is over!” As we all jumped off, we jumped on the beds, they began to throw pillows for joy, everyone shouted “Hurrah!” And then no one scolded us! Classes were canceled, there were rallies, what was happening on the street! Laughter, tears, joyful cries, music, dances. All the people went out into the street. Some have tears of joy for the victory, some have tears - that they did not wait for their relatives alive from the front. It was very crowded, it was impossible to pass, push through! It needed to be seen! Everyone was happy and having fun, like children!”
Many years have passed since the dashing war times. But Anna Petrovna remained in the habit of saving bread, using it to the last bite. Those spikelets that she, as a child, secretly collected in the fields, were not erased from her memory.
The memoirs of A.P. Borodkina are used. And
materials of the family archive of the Baranov family, Barnaul.
Spikelet
Once upon a time there were two mice, Cool and Vert, and a cockerel Vociferous throat. The mice only knew that they were singing and dancing, spinning and spinning. And the cockerel rose a little light, at first he woke everyone up with a song, and then set to work.
Once a cockerel was sweeping the yard and saw a spike of wheat on the ground.
- Cool, Vert, - called the cockerel, - look what I found! The mice come running and say:
You need to thresh him.
- And who will thresh? - asked the cockerel.
- Not me! - the rooster cock with a broom shouted alone. - Not me! another shouted.
- Okay, - said the cockerel, - I'll thresh. And set to work.
And the mice began to play bast shoes. The cockerel finished thrashing and shouted:
- Hey, Cool, hey, Vert, look how much grain I have threshed! The mice came running and squealed in one voice: 
- Now you need to take the grain to the mill, grind the flour.
- And who will bear it? - asked the cockerel.
- Not me! Krut shouted.
- Not me! Vert shouted.
- All right, - said the cockerel, - I'll take the grain to the mill.
He put the bag on his shoulders and left. And the mice, meanwhile, started a leapfrog. Jumping over each other, having fun. The cockerel returned from the mill, again calling the mice:
- Here, Cool, here, Vert! I brought flour. The mice came running, they look, they won’t praise:
- Oh, yes, a cockerel! Ah well done! Now you need to knead the dough and bake pies.
- Who will knead? - asked the cockerel. And the mice are theirs again:
- Not me! - Krut squeaked.
- Not me! squeaked Vert. The cockerel thought, thought and said:
Apparently, I'll have to.
He kneaded the dough, dragged firewood, lit the stove. And as the oven heated up, he put pies in it.
The mice also do not lose time: they sing songs, dance. 
The pies were baked, the cockerel took them out, put them on the table, and the mice were right there. And I didn't have to call them.
- Oh, and I'm hungry! - Krut squeaks.
- Oh, and I want to eat! - squeaks Vert. Rather sit down at the table. And the rooster says to them:
- Wait, wait! You tell me first: who found the spikelet?
- You found! the mice squealed loudly.
- And who threshed the spikelet? - the cockerel asked again.
- You threshed! both said quietly.
- And who carried the grain to the mill?
- Too you, - Quietly answered Krut and Vert.
Who kneaded the dough? Did you carry firewood? Fired up the oven? Who baked pies?
- All you, all you, - the little mice squeaked a little audibly.
- What did you do?
What to say in response? And there is nothing to say. Krut and Vert began to crawl out from behind the table, but the cockerel does not hold them back. There is no reason to treat such loafers and lazy people with pies!
Russian folktale
konovalova olga
I want to present to your attention my work on the manufacture ears of corn for matinees, evening entertainment. We used them at the autumn matinee "Bread Land", a dance with ears of corn. To make one spikelet will be needed: balloon shelf, yellow crepe paper, santipon, glue stick (13 grains:1 on the top and three on each row; rows should be 4).
cut off a thin strip of corrugated paper, coat with glue and wrap obliquely around the stick. Pre-make blanks "seeds" for spikelet. Cut into rectangles (6x12, roll balls from a centipon and wrap like a candy. Twist one side, this will serve as an awn.
Can be collected spikelet. We wind one "grain" to the very top, having previously greased the lower part with glue.
Then we glue 3 "seeds" in each row.
That side of the "seed" that is closer to the stick is also glued with glue and pressed. This is so that the "seed" subsequently does not stick out to the sides (doesn't look good).
There are quite a lot of cereal crops currently known.
Here's what some of them look like:
rye (genus Rye, Secale )
wheat (genus Wheat, Triticum
)
oats (genus oats, Avena
)
All these plants belong to the class ABOUTdnocotyledonous, Liliopsida
, family Cereals, Gramineae
(bluegrass, Poaceae
).
The "Young Naturalist's Calendar" for 1956 shows images of cereal crops: 
types of wheat:
1 - soft, 2 - dwarf, 3 - Spelled, 4 - Polish, 5 - einkorn, 6 - two-grain;
7 - rye;
8 - oats;
9 - millet
Benefits of Rye
The most attractive for growing on your land is winter rye. Rye is an annual plant that can reach a height of 60 - 200 cm. Rye inflorescence is a two-row spike. Sowing rye has 39 (!) varieties, but we grow common rye (lat. Secale cereale ).
Neighbors of rye can only be cornflowers.
planting rye
It is recommended to sow winter rye in your garden or garden in the third decade of August or the first decade of September. Can't plant later, since in this case the rye will not have time to gain strength before winter and will go under the snow weakened. If freshly harvested seeds are used for sowing, then they must be heated in the sun for 3-4 days.
Here is what is said about planting rye in encyclopedias of Brockhaus and Efron:
Here is what is said in Great Encyclopedia Yuzhakov:
And here is what is said about the cultivation of cereals in our area in the Military Statistical Review of the Russian Empire of 1848: 
The area intended for sowing must be dug up.
Before sowing for cultivation (loosening with a rake), you can apply 120 g/m² of mineral fertilizers: azofoska, nitrophoska or ecofoska.
Nitrofoska is a classic mineral fertilizer based on three elements vital for the full growth and development of any plant - nitrogen ( N), phosphorus ( R) and potassium ( TO).
Nitroammofoska is a complex, solid, complex, granular nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium fertilizer. There are two types of nitrogen in nitroammofosk - nitrate and ammonium, which significantly increases the duration of this mineral supplement. Azofoska is a nitroammofoska with the addition of sulfur.
Ecofoska is a highly effective granular water-soluble complex chlorine-free nitrogen-potassium fertilizer for use under all cultivated crops.
Then the soil needs to be leveled and grooves should be drawn through 15-20 cm, into which the seeds should be sown, laying them out after 3-5 cm.
But in order to simplify the sowing process, seeds can be sown randomly (“as in the old days”), planting them to a depth of 2–5 cm. In dry weather, the planting depth can be increased by 1–2 cm.
Then the surface of the soil must be harrowed with a rake and slightly compacted, for example, rolled with a special roller from a wooden chock so that the seeds are pressed into the ground ( rolling contributes to better wintering).
The optimum temperature for germination is 6-12°C. Rye sprouts will have four roots, and wheat will have three. When the first leaves appear in rye, they will be reddish, and sometimes bluish or bluish, and in wheat they will be green.
Rye is very undemanding to growing conditions, it is the most frost-resistant crop among cereals (even in snowless winters it tolerates frosts of -20 ° C, with a snow cover of 20 - 25 cm, winter rye tolerates up to -35 ° C), it is also grown in northern areas.
When growing rye in hydroponics, a big problem is the fact that cereal seeds are very often affected by mold and this mold infects the grown plant. When grown in the ground, the mold does not have time to grow enough to cause harm to the plant.
Phenological phases of rye
1. regrowth
In the spring, after the snow melts and the soil warms up a little at a temperature of 3-5 ° C, rye resumes its growth. Winter rye begins to grow rapidly, overtaking and drowning out weeds.
2. tillering
The next phase of rye development after spring regrowth is tillering - this is the appearance of new shoots due to underground branching of the stem.
3. handset exit
Rye usually goes into the tube on the 17th - 18th day after the start of the spring growing season.
4. heading
The earing of winter rye begins 14-15 days after going into the tube. Immature rye is bluish, while wheat is green.
5. bloom
Flowering begins 12-13 days after the start of heading and lasts an average of 10-12 days.
Winter rye is a cross-pollinated plant. Pollination occurs with the help of the wind when the flowers are open. Good pollination of rye is observed on warm sunny days with light winds. Drought, strong winds and rain often lead to incomplete pollination.
6. ripeness
The phase of hard ripeness is observed two months after the start of heading.
Phenological phases of wheat
(from the aforementioned "Young Naturalist's Calendar") 
The structure of rye
Rye stalk ( straw) is divided into separate internodes and separating them nodes, to which are attached leaves.
Rye shoot elements:
sheet:
1- leaf sheath (covering the stem, contributes to its strength)
2 - leaf blade (petal)
3 - node (based on the leaf sheath)
4 - internode (the thickness of the internodes decreases from bottom to top, and their length increases).
Season 2015-2016 (I season)
I prepared rye seeds for planting: 
I planted these seeds September 5 on a small plantation in rows a few centimeters deep, spaced fifteen to twenty centimeters apart: 
After planting, I compacted the ground with a log: 
On September 13, the sprouts reached a height of about 4 centimeters: 
Also September 13 I planted another plantation of rye, larger than the first one: 
As with the first plantation, I also compacted the ground with logs after planting.
By September 15, rye sprouts on the first plantation had grown even more: 
and reached a height of about 8 centimeters: 
By September 18, small sprouts of rye appeared on the second plantation: 
The rye sprouts of the first plantation reached a height of about 12 centimeters.
By September 20, the rye sprouts on the second plantation had reached a height of 4 centimeters.
I also planted various plants on the third plantation - seeds of wheat, oats and rye. Inessa and I did a little weeding on the first plantation.
On September 24, rye sprouts on the first plantation reached a height of 16 cm: 
By September 27, wheat sprouts sprouted on the third plantation: 
and oat sprouts: 
Rye sprouts on the second plantation reached a height of 13 cm: 
In the first decade of October, unusually cold weather set in - night temperatures reached -5 ... -7 ° C. By October 12, rye sprouts on the first plantation reached a height of 25 cm, on the second - 22 cm, on the third - 12 cm. Wheat and oat sprouts on the third plantation reached a height of 10 cm.
On October 16, rye on the first plantation (however, like on the others) feels good: 
Rye in frost (October 31): 
On November 24, the first snow fell!
My rye plantation in the snow: 
January 3, temperature - 25 ° C, rye under snow (snow depth about 6 cm): 
In mid-January, after the passage of cyclone Emma, the depth of the snow cover was about 13 cm: 
In early February, the weather was unusually warm for this time, and almost all of the snow had melted. This is what overwintered plantations look like: 
Rye (1) overwintered well, wheat (2) also did well, but oats (3) barely survived.
