Goatgrass (Aegilops comosa)

Description

Wheat ( Triticum spp) 2 is the term that refers to the set of cereals , both cultivated and wild, belonging to the genus Triticum ; Are annual plants of the family of grasses , widely cultivated worldwide. 3 The word wheat designates both the plant and its edible seeds , as does the names of other cereals. 4 Wheat (yellow) is one of the three most widely produced grains globally, along with maize and rice . 5 In 2013, world production was 713 million tons, that is, it ranked third, after maize (1.016 million) and rice (745 million). 6 and the most widely consumed by the Western population since antiquity . Wheat grain is used to make flour , whole wheat meal , semolina , beer (see also: beer history ) and a wide variety of foodstuffs. 7 Modern wheat is the result of the selection and hybridization carried out over the years to obtain varieties with high gluten content (due to their viscoelastic and adhesive qualities, demanded by the food industry) and high production yield, which culminated during the so-called revolution Green (second half of the 20th century). 8 9 October The procedures developed by the green revolution achieved great success in increasing production, but not enough importance was given to the nutritional quality. 10 The modern wheat presents high in carbohydrates , low protein content (low quality to be deficient in essential amino acids ) and unbalanced content of essential fatty acids , vitamins , minerals and other nutritional quality factors. October November also has a greater capacity cytotoxic and immunogenic , containing very high (80-90% of total protein) gluten. 12 13 The current criteria for the selection of wheat do not take into account its nutritional value, but its functional qualities to prepare processed foods, especially in developed countries, which is why varieties with a high gluten content are used. 14 Gluten is particularly deficient in the essential amino acid lysine , so the higher the proportion of gluten, the worse the quality of wheat proteins and their nutritional value. fifteen The word "wheat" comes from the word Latin triticum , meaning 'broken', 'crushed' or ' hackneyed ', referring to the activity to be performed to separate the wheat grain from the husk that covers it . Triticum means, therefore, the grain is necessary thresh to be consumed ; Such as millet is derived from the Latin milium , which means "milled, ground", that is, the grain that needs to be ground to be consumed . Wheat (triticum) is, therefore, one of the most ancestral words to denominate the cereals (those that referred to its crushing or grinding).