Rye

Rye is highly susceptible to the

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.^[22]

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 do. Rye will survive with snow cover that would otherwise result in winter-kill for winter wheat. Most farmers grow winter ryes, which are planted and begin to grow in autumn. In spring, the plants develop and produce their crop.^[17]

Autumn-planted rye shows fast growth; by the

Physical properties of rye affect attributes of the final food product such as seed size and surface area, and porosity. The surface area of the seed directly correlates to the drying and heat transfer time.[23] Smaller seeds have increased heat transfer, which leads to lower drying time. Seeds with lower amounts of porosity also have lower tendencies to lose water during the process of drying.^[23]

Diversity and use

Along with S. cereale's relationship and impact on the environment, it is also a valuable species because of its expansive diversity and uses. In northern Portugal, fourteen different populations of S. cereale were analyzed in order to better understand their differences. It was discovered that the storage proteins are very diverse and possess a lot of overall genetic variation as well, which is useful information to know because scientists can use its diversity in breeding to produce the most efficient

Along with improved wheat, the optimal characteristics of S. cereale can also be combined with another perennial rye, specifically S. montanum Guss, in order to produce S. cereanum, which has the beneficial characteristics of each. The hybrid rye (S. cereanum) can be grown in all environments, even with less than favorable soil and protects some soils from erosion. In addition, the plant mixture has improved forage and is known to contain digestible fiber and protein.^[26] Information about the diversity, the genome^[27] and S. cereanum's ability to cross fertilize with other species is useful information for scientists to know as they attempt to come up with various plant species that will be able to feed humanity in the future without leaving a negative footprint on the environment.^{[citation needed]}

The 1R chromosome is the source of many

The harvesting of rye is similar to that of wheat. It is usually done with combine harvesters, which cut the plants, thresh and winnow the grain, and release 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.^[31][32] The cut rye was often shocked for drying or storage, and the threshing was done by manually beating the seed heads against a floor or other object.^{[citation needed]}

Production and consumption statistics

Rye is grown primarily in Eastern, Central and Northern Europe. The main rye belt stretches from northern Germany through Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Latvia into central and northern Russia. Rye is also grown in North America (Canada and the United States), in South America (Argentina, Brazil and Chile), in Oceania (Australia and New Zealand), in Turkey, in Kazakhstan and in northern China.^{[citation needed]}

Top rye producers (in metric tons)

Producer	2022[34]	2020[34]	2018[34]	2016[34]	2014[34]
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

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 million

World trade of rye is low compared with other grains such as wheat. The total export of rye for 2016 was $186M[36] compared with $30.1B for wheat.^[37]

Poland consumes the most rye per person at 32.4 kg (71 lb) per capita (2009). Nordic and Baltic countries are also very high. 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.^[38]

Uses

Rye grain is refined into a

Rye grain is used to make alcoholic drinks, such as

Rye grain (aka "Rye Berries") is a popular medium to use as a grain spawn when cultivating some varieties of edible mushrooms. The grain is cleaned, hydrated, and sterilized and then injected with mushroom spores and the mycelium grow using the grain to obtain water and nutrients.

Food

Nutrition

A 100-gram (3+1⁄2-ounce) reference serving of rye provides 1,410 kilojoules (338 kilocalories) of

Ergotism is an illness that can result from eating rye and other grains infected by ergot fungi (which produce ergoline toxins in infected products). Although it is no longer a common illness because of modern food safety efforts, it was common before the 20th century, and it can still happen today if food safety vigilance breaks down.^[51]

Hybridization

Rye has long been considered an inferior grain to wheat in quality and digestibility, but has far larger seeds and is hardier. In the 19th century, efforts were made to create a hybrid with the best qualities of both, known initially as triticosecale, but eventually becoming known as triticale. Initially fraught with fertility and germination problems, triticale is becoming more common worldwide in the 21st century, with millions of acres/hectares being produced.^{[citation needed]}

Gallery

References