Rye | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Clade: | Commelinids |
Order: | Poales |
Family: | Poaceae |
Subfamily: | Pooideae |
Genus: | Secale |
Species: | S. cereale |
Binomial name | |
Secale cereale | |
Synonyms | |
Secale fragile M.Bieb. |
Rye (Secale cereale) is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than other cereals, making it useful in those regions; its vigorous growth suppresses weeds and provides abundant forage for animals early in the year. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) which includes the cereals wheat and barley. Rye grain is used for bread, beer, rye whiskey, and animal fodder. In Scandinavia, rye was a staple food in the Middle Ages, and rye crispbread remains a popular food in the region. Europe produces around half of the world's rye; relatively little is traded between countries. A wheat-rye hybrid, triticale, combines the qualities of the two parent crops and is produced in large quantities worldwide. In European folklore, the Roggenwolf ("rye wolf") is a carnivorous corn demon or Feldgeist .
The rye genus Secale is in the grass tribe Triticeae, which contains other cereals such as barley (Hordeum) and wheat (Triticum). [1]
The generic name Secale, related to Italian segale and French seigle meaning "rye", is of unknown origin but may derive from a Balkan language. [2] The English name rye derives from Old English ryge, related to Dutch rogge, German Roggen, and Russian рожьrožʹ, again all with the same meaning. [3]
Rye is one of several cereals that grow wild in the Levant, central and eastern Turkey and adjacent areas. Evidence uncovered at the Epipalaeolithic site of Tell Abu Hureyra in the Euphrates valley of northern Syria suggests that rye was among the first cereal crops to be systematically cultivated, around 13,000 years ago. [4] However, that claim remains controversial; critics point to inconsistencies in the radiocarbon dates, and identifications based solely on grain, rather than on chaff. [5]
Domesticated rye occurs in small quantities at a number of Neolithic sites in Asia Minor (Anatolia, now Turkey), such as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Can Hasan III near Çatalhöyük, [6] [7] but is otherwise absent from the archaeological record until the Bronze Age of central Europe, c. 1800–1500 BCE. [8]
It is likely that rye was brought westwards from Asia Minor as a secondary crop, meaning that it was a minor admixture in wheat as a result of Vavilovian mimicry, and was only later cultivated in its own right. [9] Archeological evidence of this grain has been found in Roman contexts along the Rhine and the Danube and in Ireland and Britain. [10] The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder was dismissive of a grain that may have been rye, writing that it "is a very poor food and only serves to avert starvation". [11] He said it was mixed with spelt "to mitigate its bitter taste, and even then is most unpleasant to the stomach". [12]
Rye is a tall grass grown for its seeds; it can be an annual or a biennial. Depending on environmental conditions and variety it reaches 1 to 3 metres (3 ft 3 in to 9 ft 10 in) in height. Its leaves are blue-green, long, and pointed. The seeds are carried in a curved head or spike some 7 to 15 centimetres (2.8 to 5.9 in) long. The head is composed of many spikelets, each of which holds two small flowers; the spikelets alternate left and right up the head. [13]
Since the Middle Ages, people have cultivated rye widely in Central and Eastern Europe. It serves as the main bread cereal in most areas east of the France–Germany border and north of Hungary. In Southern Europe, it was cultivated on marginal lands. [14]
Rye grows well in much poorer soils than those necessary for most cereal grains. Thus, it is an especially valuable crop in regions where the soil has sand or peat. Rye plants withstand cold better than other small grains, surviving snow cover that would kill winter wheat. Winter rye is the most popular: it is planted and begins to grow in autumn. In spring, the plants develop rapidly. [15] This allows it to provide spring grazing, at a time when spring-planted wheat has only just germinated. [16]
The physical properties of rye affect attributes of the final food product such as seed size, surface area, and porosity. The surface area of the seed directly correlates to the drying and heat transfer time. [17] Smaller seeds have increased heat transfer, which leads to lower drying time. Seeds with lower porosity lose water more slowly during the process of drying. [17]
Rye is harvested like wheat with a combine harvester, which cuts the plants, threshes and winnows the grain, and releases the straw to the field where it is later pressed into bales or left as soil amendment. The resultant grain is stored in local silos or transported to regional grain elevators and combined with other lots for storage and distant shipment. Before the era of mechanised agriculture, rye harvesting was a manual task performed with scythes or sickles. [18] [19]
Winter rye is any breed of rye planted in the autumn to provide ground cover for the winter. It grows during warmer days of the winter when sunlight temporarily warms the plant above freezing, even while there is general snow cover. It can be used as a cover crop to prevent the growth of winter-hardy weeds. [20]
Rye grows better than any other cereal in heavy clay and light sandy soil, and infertile or drought-affected soils. It can tolerate pH between 4.5 and 8.0, but soils having pH 5.0 to 7.0 are best suited for rye cultivation. Rye grows best in fertile, well-drained loam or clay-loam soils. [21] As for temperature, the crop can thrive in subzero environments, assisted by the production of antifreeze polypeptides (different from those produced by some fish and insects) by the leaves of winter rye. [22]
Rye is a common, unwanted invader of winter wheat fields. If allowed to grow and mature, it may cause substantially reduced prices (docking) for harvested wheat. [23]
Pests including the nematode Ditylenchus dipsaci and a variety of herbivorous insects can seriously affect plant health. [24]
Rye is highly susceptible to the ergot fungus. [25] [26] Consumption of ergot-infected rye by humans and animals results in ergotism, which causes convulsions, miscarriage, necrosis of digits, hallucinations and death. Historically, damp northern countries that depended on rye as a staple crop were subject to periodic epidemics. [15] Modern grain-cleaning and milling methods have practically eliminated ergotism, but it remains a risk if food safety vigilance breaks down. [27]
After an absence of 60 years, stem rust (Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici) has returned to Europe in the 2020s. [28] Areas affected include Germany, Russia (Western Siberia), Spain, and Sweden. [28]
Rye is grown primarily in Eastern, Central and Northern Europe. The main rye belt stretches from northern Germany through Poland, Ukraine, and eastwards into central and northern Russia. Rye is also grown in North America, in South America including Argentina, in Oceania (Australia and New Zealand), in Turkey, and in northern China. Production levels of rye have fallen since 1992 in most of the producing nations, as of 2022 [update] ; for instance, production of rye in Russia fell from 13.9 metric tons in 1992 to 2.2 metric tons in 2022. [30] [31]
Producer | 2022 [31] | 2020 [31] | 2018 [31] | 2016 [31] | 2014 [31] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
European Union | 7,450,920 | 8,939,510 | 6,141,040 | 7,400,686 | 8,890,726 |
Germany | 3,132,300 | 3,513,400 | 2,201,400 | 3,173,800 | 3,854,400 |
Poland | 2,337,130 | 2,929,930 | 2,126,570 | 2,199,578 | 2,792,593 |
Russia | 2,178,808 | 2,377,629 | 1,916,056 | 2,547,878 | 3,280,759 |
Belarus | 750,000 | 1,050,702 | 502,505 | 650,908 | 867,075 |
Denmark | 691,470 | 699,370 | 476,590 | 577,200 | 677,800 |
Canada | 520,177 | 487,800 | 236,400 | 436,000 | 217,500 |
China | 500,767 | 512,591 | 504,698 | 545,657 | 520,000 |
Ukraine | 314,030 | 456,780 | 393,780 | 391,560 | 478,000 |
United States | 312,460 | 292,930 | 214,180 | 290,379 | 182,610 |
United Kingdom | 242,207 | 72,450 | 95,366 | 48,563 | 55,899 |
Argentina | 225,510 | 221,201 | 86,098 | 60,676 | 52,130 |
Spain | 188,880 | 407,620 | 404,280 | 377,355 | 290,970 |
World total | 13,143,055 | 15,036,812 | 10,702,482 | 12,999,144 | 15,204,158 |
World trade of rye is low compared with other grains such as wheat. The total export of rye for 2016 was $186 million [32] compared with $30.1 billion for wheat. [33]
Poland consumes the most rye per person at 32.4 kg (71 lb) per capita (2009), followed by the Nordic and Baltic countries. The EU in general is around 5.6 kg (12 lb) per capita. The entire world only consumes 0.9 kg (2 lb) per capita. [34]
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Energy | 1,414 kJ (338 kcal) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
75.86 g | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sugars | 0.98 g | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dietary fiber | 15.1 g | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1.63 g | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
10.34 g | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Other constituents | Quantity | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Water | 10.6 g | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Selenium | 14 µg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
†Percentages estimated using US recommendations for adults, [35] except for potassium, which is estimated based on expert recommendation from the National Academies. [36] |
Raw rye contains 11% water, 76% carbohydrates, 10% protein, and 2% fat (table). A 100-gram (3+1⁄2-ounce) reference amount of rye provides 1,410 kilojoules (338 kilocalories) of food energy, and is a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of essential nutrients, including dietary fiber, B vitamins, such as thiamine and niacin (each at 25% DV), and several dietary minerals. Highest micronutrient contents are for manganese (130% DV) and phosphorus (27% DV) (table).
According to Health Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, consuming at least 4 grams (0.14 oz) per day of rye beta-glucan or 0.65 grams (0.023 oz) per serving of soluble fiber can lower levels of blood cholesterol, a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. [37] [38]
Eating whole-grain rye, as well as other high-fibre grains, improves regulation of blood sugar (i.e., reduces blood glucose response to a meal). [39] Consuming breakfast cereals containing rye over weeks to months also improved cholesterol levels and glucose regulation. [40]
Like wheat, barley, and their hybrids and derivatives, rye contains glutens and related prolamines, which makes it an unsuitable grain for consumption by people with gluten-related disorders, such as celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, and wheat allergy, among others. [41] Nevertheless, some wheat allergy patients can tolerate rye or barley. [42]
Rye grain is refined into a flour high in gliadin but low in glutenin and rich in soluble fiber. Alkylresorcinols are phenolic lipids present in high amounts in the bran layer (e.g. pericarp, testa and aleurone layers) of wheat and rye (0.1–0.3% of dry weight). [43] Rye bread, including pumpernickel, is made using rye flour and is a widely eaten food in Northern and Eastern Europe. [44] [45] In Scandinavia, rye is widely used to make crispbread (Knäckebröd); in the Middle Ages it was a staple food in the region, and it remains popular in the 21st century. [46]
Rye grain is used to make alcoholic drinks, such as rye whiskey and rye beer. [13] The traditional cloudy and sweet-sour low-alcohol beverage kvass is fermented from rye bread or rye flour and malt. [47]
Rye is a useful forage crop in cool climates; it grows vigorously and provides plentiful fodder for grazing animals, or green manure to improve the soil. [48] It forms a good cover crop in winter with its rapid growth and deep roots. [49]
Rye straw is used as livestock bedding, despite the risk of ergot poisoning. [50] It is used on a small scale to make crafts such as corn dollies. [51] More recently it has found uses as a raw material for bioconversion to products such as the sweetener xylitol. [52]
Rye flour is mixed with linseed oil and iron oxide to make traditional Falun red paint, widely used as a house paint in Sweden. [53]
Plant breeders, starting in the 19th century in Germany and Scotland, [54] but mainly from the 1950s, worked to develop a hybrid cereal with the best qualities of wheat and rye, now called triticale. Modern triticales are hexaploid with six sets of chromosomes; they are used to produce millions of tons of cereal annually. [55]
Varieties of rye hold much genetic diversity, [56] [57] [58] which can be used to improve other crops such as wheat. For example, the pollination abilities of wheat can be improved by the addition of the rye chromosome 4R; this increases the size of the wheat anther and the amount of pollen. [59] The 1R chromosome is the source of many crop disease resistance genes. [60] Varieties such as Petkus, Insave, Amigo, and Imperial have donated 1R-originating resistance to wheat. [60] AC Hazlet rye is a medium-sized winter rye with resistance to both lodging and shattering. [61] Rye was the gene donor of Sr31 – a stem rust resistance gene – introgressed into wheat. [62]
The characteristics of S. cereale have been combined with another perennial rye, S. montanum , to produce S. cereanum , which has the beneficial characteristics of each. The hybrid rye can be grown in harsh environments and on poor soil. It provides improved forage with digestible fiber and protein. [63]
In European folklore, the Roggenwolf ("rye wolf") is a carnivorous corn demon or Feldgeist , a field spirit shaped like a wolf. [64] The Roggenwolf steals children and feeds on them. [65] The last grain heads are often left at their place as a sacrifice for the agricultural spirits. [66]
In contrast, the Roggenmuhme or Roggenmutter ("rye aunt" or "rye mother") is an anthropomorphic female corn demon with fiery fingers. Her bosoms are filled with tar and may end in tips of iron. Her bosoms are also long, and as such must be thrown over her shoulders when she runs. The Roggenmuhme is completely black or white, and in her hand she has a birch or whip from which lightning sparks. She can change herself into different animals, such as snakes, turtles, and frogs. [67]
The classical scholar Carl A. P. Ruck writes that the Roggenmutter was believed to go through the fields, rustling like the wind, with a pack of rye wolves running after her. They spread ergot through the sheaves of harvested rye. According to Ruck, they then lured children into the fields to nurse on the infected grains "like the iron teats of the Roggenmutter". [68] The enlarged reddish ergot-infected grains were known as Wulfzähne (wolf teeth). [68]
A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize. Edible grains from other plant families, such as buckwheat and quinoa, are pseudocereals. Most cereals are annuals, producing one crop from each planting, though rice is sometimes grown as a perennial. Winter varieties are hardy enough to be planted in the autumn, becoming dormant in the winter, and harvested in spring or early summer; spring varieties are planted in spring and harvested in late summer. The term cereal is derived from the name of the Roman goddess of grain crops and fertility, Ceres.
Gluten is a structural protein naturally found in certain cereal grains. The term gluten usually refers to the elastic network of a wheat grain's proteins, gliadin and glutenin primarily, that forms readily with the addition of water and often kneading in the case of bread dough. The types of grains that contain gluten include all species of wheat, and barley, rye, and some cultivars of oat; moreover, cross hybrids of any of these cereal grains also contain gluten, e.g. triticale. Gluten makes up 75–85% of the total protein in bread wheat.
Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a staple food around the world. The many species of wheat together make up the genus Triticum ; the most widely grown is common wheat. The archaeological record suggests that wheat was first cultivated in the regions of the Fertile Crescent around 9600 BC. Botanically, the wheat kernel is a caryopsis, a type of fruit.
The oat, sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name. Oats appear to have been domesticated as a secondary crop, as their seeds resembled those of other cereals closely enough for them to be included by early cultivators. Oats tolerate cold winters less well than cereals such as wheat, barley, and rye, but need less summer heat and more rain, making them important in areas such as Northwest Europe that have cool wet summers. They can tolerate low-nutrient and acid soils. Oats grow thickly and vigorously, allowing them to outcompete many weeds, and compared to other cereals are relatively free from diseases.
Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures. Corn flour has been important in Mesoamerican cuisine since ancient times and remains a staple in the Americas. Rye flour is a constituent of bread in both Central Europe and Northern Europe.
Triticale is a hybrid of wheat (Triticum) and rye (Secale) first bred in laboratories during the late 19th century in Scotland and Germany. Commercially available triticale is almost always a second-generation hybrid, i.e., a cross between two kinds of primary (first-cross) triticales. As a rule, triticale combines the yield potential and grain quality of wheat with the disease and environmental tolerance of rye. Only recently has it been developed into a commercially viable crop. Depending on the cultivar, triticale can more or less resemble either of its parents. It is grown mostly for forage or fodder, although some triticale-based foods can be purchased at health food stores and can be found in some breakfast cereals.
Secale is a genus of the grass tribe Triticeae, which is related to barley (Hordeum) and wheat (Triticum). The genus includes cultivated species such as rye as well as weedy and wild rye species. The best-known species of the genus is the cultivated rye, S. cereale, which is grown as a grain and forage crop. Wild and weedy rye species help provide a huge gene pool that can be used for improvement of the cultivated rye.
Emmer wheat or hulled wheat is a type of awned wheat. Emmer is a tetraploid. The domesticated types are Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccum and T. t. conv. durum. The wild plant is called T. t. subsp. dicoccoides. The principal difference between the wild and the domestic forms is that the ripened seed head of the wild plant shatters and scatters the seed onto the ground, while in the domesticated emmer, the seed head remains intact, thus making it easier for people to harvest the grain.
Ergot or ergot fungi refers to a group of fungi of the genus Claviceps.
Ergotism is the effect of long-term ergot poisoning, traditionally due to the ingestion of the alkaloids produced by the Claviceps purpurea fungus—from the Latin clava "club" or clavus "nail" and -ceps for "head", i.e. the purple club-headed fungus—that infects rye and other cereals, and more recently by the action of a number of ergoline-based drugs. It is also known as ergotoxicosis, ergot poisoning, and Saint Anthony's fire.
Khorasan wheat or Oriental wheat is a tetraploid wheat species. The grain is twice the size of modern-day wheat, and has a rich, nutty flavor.
A whole grain is a grain of any cereal and pseudocereal that contains the endosperm, germ, and bran, in contrast to refined grains, which retain only the endosperm.
Rye bread is a type of bread made with various proportions of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from wheat flour. Compared to white bread, it is higher in fiber, darker in color, and stronger in flavor. The world's largest exporter of rye bread is Poland.
In plant biology and agriculture, Vavilovian mimicry is a form of mimicry in plants where a weed evolves to share characteristics with a crop plant through generations of involuntary artificial selection. It is named after the Russian plant geneticist Nikolai Vavilov.
Claviceps purpurea is an ergot fungus that grows on the ears of rye and related cereal and forage plants. Consumption of grains or seeds contaminated with the survival structure of this fungus, the ergot sclerotium, can cause ergotism in humans and other mammals. C. purpurea most commonly affects outcrossing species such as rye, as well as triticale, wheat and barley. It affects oats only rarely.
Triticeae is a botanical tribe within the subfamily Pooideae of grasses that includes genera with many domesticated species. Major crop genera found in this tribe include wheat, barley, and rye; crops in other genera include some for human consumption, and others used for animal feed or rangeland protection. Among the world's cultivated species, this tribe has some of the most complex genetic histories. An example is bread wheat, which contains the genomes of three species with only one being a wheat Triticum species. Seed storage proteins in the Triticeae are implicated in various food allergies and intolerances.
Tilletia caries is a basidiomycete that causes common bunt of wheat. The common names of this disease are stinking bunt of wheat and stinking smut of wheat. This pathogen infects wheat, rye, and various other grasses. T. caries is economically and agriculturally important because it reduces both the wheat yield and grain quality.
Barley, a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikelets and making it much easier to harvest. Its use then spread throughout Eurasia by 2000 BC. Barley prefers relatively low temperatures and well-drained soil to grow. It is relatively tolerant of drought and soil salinity but is less winter-hardy than wheat or rye.
A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legumes.
A staple food, food staple, or simply staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for an individual or a population group, supplying a large fraction of energy needs and generally forming a significant proportion of the intake of other nutrients as well. For humans, a staple food of a specific society may be eaten as often as every day or every meal, and most people live on a diet based on just a small variety of food staples. Specific staples vary from place to place, but typically are inexpensive or readily available foods that supply one or more of the macronutrients and micronutrients needed for survival and health: carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, and vitamins. Typical examples include grains, seeds, nuts and root vegetables. Among them, cereals, legumes and tubers account for about 90% of the world's food calorie intake.