CEREALS

Agricultural Uses

All true cereals are members of the grass family. Gramineae (also called Poaceae) is the largest and economically most important family in the plant kingdom. Grasses grow everywhere - from sea level to high mountains, from the tropics to polar regions and from wet and humid areas to deserts and arid regions. About 50 species are cultivated worldwide, although 17 species alone provide 90% of human food and occupy about 75 % of the total cultivated land on earth.
Domesticated cereals include wheat, rice, corn, barley, oats, sorghum, rye, Elucine sp. (ragi) and Setavia. Triticale is a new cereal derived by crossing wheat with rye, followed by doubling of chromosomes.
Cereal crops are grown for their edible portion.
Though botanically called caryopis, they are popularly referred to as grain, kernel or seed. Cereal grains are the chief source of energy in our diet. They provide carbohydrate in the form of starch. Cereal grains provide 60% of the proteins consumed. Most cereal grains can be processed into malt, which can be used in a number of products and in the brewing process. A wide genetic variation exists among cereal crops, which offers considerable scope for future plant improvement through selection, breeding, bio-genetic engineering and induced mutation.