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Barley

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Food and agriculture;
Plants

                    iBarley
   Barley field
   Barley field
           Scientific classification

   Kingdom:  Plantae
   Division: Magnoliophyta
   Class:    Liliopsida
   Order:    Poales
   Family:   Poaceae
   Genus:    Hordeum
   Species:  H. vulgare

                                Binomial name

   Hordeum vulgare
   L.

   Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is a major food and animal feed crop, a member
   of the grass family Poaceae. In 2005, barley ranked fourth in quantity
   produced and in area of cultivation of cereal crops in the world
   (560,000 km²). Its germination time is anywhere from 1-3 days.

History

   Cultivated barley (H. vulgare) is descended from wild barley (Hordeum
   spontaneum), which grows wild in the Middle East. Both forms are
   diploid (2n=14 chromosomes). As wild barley is interfertile with
   domesticated barley, the two forms are often treated as one species,
   divided into Hordeum vulgare subsp. spontaneum (wild) and subsp.
   vulgare (domesticated). The main difference between the two forms is
   the brittle rachis of the former, which enables seed dispersal in the
   wild. The earliest finds of wild barley come from Epi- Paleolithic
   sites in the Levant, beginning in the Natufian. The earliest
   domesticated barley occurs at Aceramic Neolithic sites such as the (PPN
   B) layers of Tell Abu Hureyra in Syria. Barley was one of the first
   crops domesticated in the Near East, at the same time as einkorn and
   emmer wheat.

   Barley was, alongside emmer wheat, a staple cereal of ancient Egypt,
   where it was used to make bread and beer; together, these were a
   complete diet. The general name for barley is jt (hypothetically
   pronounced "eat"); šma (hypothetically pronounced "SHE-ma") refers to
   Upper Egyptian barley and is a symbol of Upper Egypt.

   The ritual significance of barley in ancient Greece possibly dates back
   to the earliest stages of the Eleusinian Mysteries. The preparatory
   kykeon or mixed drink of the initiates, prepared from barley and herbs,
   was referred to in the Homeric hymn to Demeter, who was also called
   "Barley-mother".

   CAPTION: Barley in Egyptian hieroglyphs

   jt barley determinative/ ideogram

                                     M34
   jt (common) spelling

                                     i t  U9
                                         M33
   šma determinative/ideogram

                                     U9

   Greek practice was to dry the barley groats and roast them before
   preparing the porridge, according to Pliny the Elder's Natural History
   (xviii.72). This produces malt that soon ferments and becomes slightly
   alcoholic.

   Tibetan barley has been the only major staple food in Tibet for
   centuries.

   Palaeoethnobotanists have found that barley has been grown in the
   Korean Peninsula since the Early Mumun Pottery Period (c. 1500-850
   B.C.) along with other crops such as millet, wheat, and legumes.

As of 1881

   According to the 1881 Household Cyclopedia:

     Next to wheat the most valuable grain is barley, especially on light
     and sharp soils. It is a tender grain and easily hurt in any of the
     stages of its growth, particularly at seed time; a heavy shower of
     rain will then almost ruin a crop on the best prepared land; and in
     all the after processes greater pains and attention are required to
     ensure success than in the case of other grains. The harvest process
     is difficult, and often attended with danger; even the threshing of
     it is not easily executed with machines, because the awn generally
     adheres to the grain, and renders separation from the straw a
     troublesome task. Barley, in fact, is raised at greater expense than
     wheat, and generally speaking is a more hazardous crop. Except upon
     rich and genial soils, where climate will allow wheat to be
     perfectly reared, it ought not to be cultivated.

   Preparation of ground

     Barley is chiefly taken after turnips, sometimes after peas and
     beans, but rarely by bad farmers either after wheat or oats, unless
     under special circumstances. When sown after turnips it is generally
     taken with one furrow, which is given as fast as the turnips are
     consumed, the ground thus receiving much benefit from the spring
     frosts. But often two, or more furrows are necessary for the fields
     last consumed, because when a spring drought sets in, the surface,
     from being poached by the removal or consumption of the crop, gets
     so hardened as to render a greater quantity of ploughing, harrowing
     and rolling necessary than would otherwise be called for. When sown
     after beans and peas, one winter and one spring ploughing are
     usually bestowed: but when after wheat or oats, three ploughings are
     necessary, so that the ground may be put in proper condition. These
     operations are very ticklish in a wet and backward season, and
     rarely in that case is the grower paid for the expense of his labor.
     Where land is in such a situation as to require three ploughings
     before it can be seeded with barley, it is better to summer-fallow
     it at once than to run the risks which seldom fail to accompany a
     quantity of spring labor. If the weather be dry, moisture is lost
     during the different processes, and an imperfect braird necessarily
     follows; if it be wet the benefit of ploughing is lost, and all the
     evils of a wet seed time are sustained by the future crop.
     The quantity sown is different in different cases, according to the
     quality of the soil and other circumstances. Upon very rich lands
     eight pecks per acre [11 t/km²] are sometimes sown; twelve [16
     t/km²] is very common, and upon poor land more is sometimes given.
     By good judges a quantity of seed is sown sufficient to ensure a
     full crop, without depending on its sending out offsets; indeed,
     where that is done few offsets are produced, the crop grows and
     ripens equally, and the grain is uniformly good.

Composition

   ﻿The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) cites the
   following composition of barley meal according to Ernst von Bibra,
   omitting the salts:
   Water                 15%
   Nitrogenous compounds 12.981%
   Gum                   6.744%
   Sugar                 3.200%
   Starch                59.950%
   Fat                   2.170%

Production

   Top Ten Barley Producers - 2005
   (million metric ton)
   Flag of Russia  Russia                 16.7
   Flag of Canada  Canada                 12.1
   Flag of Germany  Germany               11.7
   Flag of France  France                 10.4
   Flag of Ukraine  Ukraine                9.3
   Flag of Turkey  Turkey                  9.0
   Flag of Australia  Australia            6.6
   Flag of United Kingdom  United Kingdom  5.5
   Flag of United States  United States    4.6
   Flag of Spain  Spain                    4.4
   World Total                             138
   Source:
   UN Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO)

   Barley was grown in about 100 countries worldwide in 2005. The world
   production in 1974 was 148,818,870 tonnes, showing little change in the
   amount of barley produced worldwide.

Cultivars

   Barley
   Enlarge
   Barley

   Barley can be divided by the number of kernel rows in the head. Three
   forms have been cultivated; two-row barley (traditionally known as
   Hordeum distichum), four-row (Hordeum tetrastichum) and six-row barley
   (Hordeum vulgare). In two-row barley only one spikelet is fertile, in
   the four-row and six-row forms, all three are fertile.

   Two-row barley is the oldest form, wild barley having two rows as well.
   Two-row barley has a lower protein content than six-row barley and thus
   a lower enzyme content. High protein barley is best suited for animal
   feed or malt that will be used to make beers with a large adjunct
   content. Two-row barley is traditionally used in English beers, Six-row
   barley is traditional in German and American beers. Four-row is
   unsuitable for brewing.

   Barley is widely adaptable and is currently a major crop of the
   temperate and tropical areas.

Uses

   Oats, barley, and some products made from them.
   Enlarge
   Oats, barley, and some products made from them.

   Barley is a staple food for humans and other animals. It is more
   tolerant of soil salinity than wheat, which might explain the increase
   of barley cultivation on Mesopotamia from the 2nd millennium BC
   onwards. Barley can still thrive in conditions that are too cold even
   for rye.

   Barley must have its fibrous outer hull removed before it can be eaten.
   Barley grains with their hulls still on are called covered barley. Once
   the grain has had the inedible hull removed, it is called hulled
   barley. At this stage, the grain still has its bran and germ, which are
   nutritious. Hulled barley is considered a whole grain, and is a popular
   health food. Pearl barley or pearled barley is hulled barley which has
   been processed further to remove the bran. It may be polished, a
   process known as "pearling".

   Hulled or pearl barley may be processed into a variety of barley
   products, including flour, flakes similar to oatmeal, and grits. It may
   be malted and used in the production of alcoholic beverages. Malting
   barley is a key ingredient in beer and whiskey production. Two-row
   barley is traditionally used in German and English beers, and six-row
   barley in American beers.

Plant diseases

   This plant is known or likely to be susceptible to barley mild mosaic
   bymovirus.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barley"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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