Wheat Environment, Food and Health

Wheat was one of the first cereals to be domesticated and it is now produced on over 700 million hectares globally, making it the most widely grown crop worldwide. This is attributable to its wide adaptability across climate and elevation ranges, as well as its central contribution to human diets. The energy-rich grain is also the major vegetable protein source in human diets and, alongside maize and rice, the cereal staples underpin food and nutrition security. Importantly, wheat grain can be stored and processed into a diverse range of end products. The versatility of wheat as both a field crop and as a grain commodity make it unique. There are many strands of knowledge, research, and breeding that have contributed to the wheat that is grown around the world today. Many features are covered in this book, including the major facets of wheat production (soils, water, temperature, sunshine), the optimal characteristics and management of the canopy to deliver harvestable outputs, and the wheat grain itself. A wealth of information describes the structure, development, and composition and quality for processing and health of wheat grain, all vital for its versatility as a food and feedstuff. Finally, the genetic improvement of wheat continues apace. Much recent innovation has uncovered previously intractable aspects of the wheat genome and we see accelerated progress in understanding genetic improvement. This expertly assembled book brings together a wealth of knowledge on wheat production and processing along with the exciting prospects of modern wheat breeding methods. The increasing global population and climate change threats necessitate our use of the synthesis of this information in continuing to breed and produce the wheat of the future.