Wheat

by
Courtney Quail
of Palmyra Primary School, WA

Interview with a Farmer | Bibliography

Classification

Wheat is a grass like plant. It belongs to the group of grains called cereals. Wheats scientific name is Gramineae and makes up the genus Triticum. Other important cereals are rice, oats, corn, barley and rye. Different kinds of wheat grow successfully in hot, cold and dry climates. Scientists are always developing new varieties of wheat that will resist cold, plant disease, and insects, and also will increase the yield.

Description

Wheat is a cereal crop and was developed in prehistoric times from grasses growing in the Middle East. Wheat is an annual plant with fibrous roots and roots with spikes of flowers. Each spike has two rows of spikelets, and each spikelet carries one to six florets.

Varieties of wheat include Duram, used to make spaghetti, and Rivet, with a stiff straw, ideal for thatching. When wheat is young, it looks like grass. The wheat is a greeny colour, but turns golden when it is ripe. Wheat can grow up to 5 ft high. The head of wheat can contain up to 50 to 80 kernals.

Place

Wheat is the main food of hundreds of millions of people throughout the world. As a result, wheat covers more of the earth's surface than any other food crop. Wheat is extremely common in Africa, North and South America, Asia, Australia and Europe.

Dynamics

A good wheat crop depends on several things. The soil and the weather must be right. The seed must be good, and free from diseases. The grain must be harvested at the correct time. Between germination and harvesting, there are in total 150 to 180 days. In some places farmers grow wheat in rotation with other crops. For example, farmers would plant corn, oats,clover or soyabeans for one year and grow wheat in the next year and keep the soil intact to store in the moisture in the years between the wheat crops.

Summarising Comment

I choose to do my big project on wheat because I thought that it would be an interesting assignment to discover more about it and after doing this project on wheat, I have learnt so much about this wonderful topic.