''Hordeum spontaneum'', commonly known as wild barley or spontaneous barley, is the wild form of the grass in the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
Poaceae
Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...
that gave rise to the cereal
barley
Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...
(''Hordeum vulgare''). Domestication is thought to have occurred on two occasions, first about ten thousand years ago in the
Fertile Crescent
The Fertile Crescent ( ar, الهلال الخصيب) is a crescent-shaped region in the Middle East, spanning modern-day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Jordan, together with the northern region of Kuwait, southeastern region of ...
and again later, several thousand kilometres further east.
Description
Wild barley is an annual grass and is very similar in form to cultivated barley (''Hordeum vulgare'') but has slightly narrower leaves, longer stems, longer
awns, a brittle
rachis
In biology, a rachis (from the grc, ῥάχις [], "backbone, spine") is a main axis or "shaft".
In zoology and microbiology
In vertebrates, ''rachis'' can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, which encase the spinal cord. In this c ...
, a longer, more slender seed spike and smaller grains.
[ Characteristics of the wild plant that enhance its survival and dispersal include the brittle rachis (the central part of the seed head), which breaks when the grain is ripe, and the hulled seeds, which are arranged in two rows. In cultivated varieties, the rachis is more durable and the seeds are usually arranged in two or six rows. In the east, barley is usually grown for human consumption and the naked form of the grain is preferred, while in the west, the hulled form is mainly grown. It is used for animal feed and for the production of malt for brewing.
]
Distribution and habitat
Wild barley is native to North Africa, the Middle East, parts of the Indian subcontinent and south-west China. Its range includes Libya, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Crete, Cyprus, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, India and the Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
and Xizang
The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China in Southwest China. It was overlayed on the traditional Tibetan regions of Ü ...
provinces of China.
Wild barley is found in a wide range of locations varying from deserts to Mediterranean-type habitats and highland habitats, growing of itself in, both, cultivated and uncultivated fields. It is exposed to many environmental stresses including high temperatures, drought and high soil salinity
Soil salinity is the salt content in the soil; the process of increasing the salt content is known as salinization. Salts occur naturally within soils and water. Salination can be caused by natural processes such as mineral weathering or by the ...
and there are local adaptations to the microclimate
A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often with a slight difference but sometimes with a substantial one. The term may refer to areas as small as a few squ ...
s in which it grows. This wild plant is potentially a genetic resource useful for the breeding of stress-tolerant varieties of the cultivated crop.
Domestication
The domestication of barley probably occurred around 10,000 years ago in the Israel and Jordan region of the Fertile Crescent
The Fertile Crescent ( ar, الهلال الخصيب) is a crescent-shaped region in the Middle East, spanning modern-day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Jordan, together with the northern region of Kuwait, southeastern region of ...
.[ Barley grains have been found at a number of archaeological sites in this area and the wild barleys here are more molecularly similar to the cultivated gene pool than are any other wild populations. AFLP technology indicates single domestication of barley, not, as had previously been hypothesized, a series of domestications in different parts of its range such as in Ethiopia and in the Mediterranean region.] Further research using haplotype
A haplotype ( haploid genotype) is a group of alleles in an organism that are inherited together from a single parent.
Many organisms contain genetic material ( DNA) which is inherited from two parents. Normally these organisms have their DNA or ...
frequency in different geographic parts of the range led to the inference that there were at least two domestication events, one in the Fertile Crescent and another some further east. The former gave rise to the cultivars grown in Europe and America while the latter gave rise to the diversity of cultivated crops in central Asia and the Far East.
In Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
, the ground was prepared for the sowing of barley in December, the ground sown with barley in January, and the barley harvested in April.
Gallery
File:Wild barley spikes.jpg, Spikes of wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum)
File:Barley swaying in the wind.jpg, Wild barley swaying in the wind
File:Sheaf of wild barley.jpg, Wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum) harvested in Spring
File:Sheaf of barley.jpg, Hordeum spontaneum
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q12218911
spontaneum
Grains
Barley
Poaceae
Forages