Wheat

Article By:

Ellett, C. Wayne Department of Plant Pathology, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.

Kasarda, Donald D. Western Regional Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Albany, California.

Uebersax, Mark A. Department of Food Sciences and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.

Last reviewed:December 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.744900

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• Wheat, published August 2015:Download PDF Get Adobe Acrobat Reader

A food grain crop of the genus Triticum, in which the inflorescence is a spike bearing sessile spikelets arranged alternately on a zigzag rachis (main axis). Wheat (genus Triticum) [Fig. 1] is the most widely grown food crop in the world and ranks first in world crop production. It is the national food staple of dozens of countries. At least one-third of the world's population depends on wheat as its main staple. The principal food use of wheat is as bread, either leavened or unleavened. Common wheat (Triticum aestivum), also known as bread wheat, is the predominant wheat species grown for food. See also: Cereal; Farm crops; Food; Grain crops; Grass crops; Horticultural crops; Poales

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