Winter rye: a general description

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Winter rye is an extremely important fodder and food crop, which contains a large amount of protein (up to 15 percent) and carbohydrates (up to 81 percent). In addition, its grain contains vitamins A, B, and E. Rye bread is baked from flour, which surpasses the wheat analogue in biological value and calorie content. The main agrotechnical significance of the culture, first of all, lies in the fact that due to its rapid growth and high bushiness, it is able to effectively suppress weeds. Rye bran, grain and flour are also used in the form of concentrated feed, which is in no way inferior to perennial grasses in terms of quality. Among other things, winter rye is also used for technical purposes. More specifically, it can be processed into molasses, alcohol and starch, and straw can be used to produce cellulose and acetic acid.

The crop was formed from a weed that littered wheat crops. Its place of origin is Southeast Asia and Transcaucasia. In Ukraine, winter rye first appeared around the first millennium BC, and the first mention of cultivation on Russian territory dates back to the ninthcentury. Now its cultivation is widespread not only in our country, but also in the USA and Western Europe. Despite this, in world terms, among all cereal crops, rye is in one of the last places. The area of its annual crops is about twenty million hectares. When growing rye on fertile soils and with the introduction of a sufficient amount of fertilizers, it gives good yields (up to 20 centners per hectare). At the same time, compared with wheat, this figure is about one and a half times less.

Now a few words about when to sow winter rye. This is done in autumn, when the average temperature is about fifteen degrees. In this case, the probability of its damage by parasites is noticeably reduced, and the culture itself takes root better. Crops are able to withstand frost at 25 degrees. Germination in the soil begins to occur already at 2 degrees Celsius, and friendly shoots are formed when the temperature is 10 degrees. Thanks to its well-developed root system, winter rye even tolerates spring droughts. Moreover, during its growth period, the culture is not very demanding on humidity, therefore it develops well both in long heavy rains and in heat. She is not picky about the type of soil. Rye grows normally even on sandy and infertile soil. Compared to other grains, it is better at absorbing phosphorus and potassium directly from the ground.

Tetraploid anddiploid varieties of winter rye. The difference between them lies in the number of chromosomes that make up the somatic cells of the plant. The first of these varieties appeared relatively recently and has 28 chromosomes. As for the second, it has 14 chromosomes. Diploid varieties are more widely distributed. The most popular of them are such as Niva, Volya and Boguslavka. In the tetraploid group, we note September, Pukhovchanka and Drevlyanskaya.