From neolithic to late modern period: Brief history of wheat

Abstract

History of wheat cultivation is as long as history of civilization. Adaptation of nature, animal domestication and plant cultivation, enabled transition from nomadism to sedentism 12,000 years ago, portraying the rise of Homo sapiens of today. First civilization, Mesopotamia aroused around 4000 B.C.E, in the riverbanks of Tiger and Euphrates, where carbon-14 dating revealed that tetraploid wild emmer (Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccoides) was grown. Due to modest cultivation requirements and high nutritional value, wheat quickly spread from its centre of origin throughout the world. Generations of farmers have chosen seeds from plants with best architecture, adapted to local conditions for sowing, striving toward constant improvement of yields. For centuries agricultural production was based on locally adapted wheat varieties of great genetic diversity. Agriculture completely changed its course in mid-XX century as a result of Green Revolution, introduction of high-yielding cereal varieties, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, irrigation and mechanization replacing traditional techniques. The flourishing of agriculture has drastically changed the course of agricultural development and global society. Improvement of agricultural techniques by integrating scientific advancements and knowledge to assimilate environmental factors has tripled wheat yields in last 50 years. Today, wheat, maize and rice, represent staple food for humanity.