Winter wheat is one of the most valuable and widespread crops on Earth. The value of grain is determined by the content of fat, protein, carbohydrates and other substances and microelements in it. By the level of protein content, it is winter wheat that surpasses all other crops.
As is known, wheat flour is widely used for making bread, in the confectionery industry, it also produces pasta, semolina. Grains make starch, alcohol and so on. And waste from alcohol and flour milling industries become a valuable food for animals.
Varieties of winter wheat
Today it is the most widespread type of wheat, which has more than 250 species and several thousand varieties. The most common and widely used varieties of winter wheat:
- "Rosinka Tarasovskaya";
- "Prestige";
- "Nemchinovskaya-24";
- "Governor of the Don";
- "Moscow-39";
- "Tarasovo awning";
- "Lyubava Odesskaya";
- "Ukrainka Poltava",
- "Lada Odessa";
- "Mironovskaya 65";
- "Mironovskaya 66";
- "Lelya";
- "Kharkov 105".
In general, winter wheat is divided by the strength of flour into:
- Strong wheat is soft wheat with a high protein content, gluten of the 1st quality group, which gives high-quality porous bread. Improves the properties of flour from weak wheat.
- Average wheat - with less protein and gluten (3rd quality group). In general, it has good baking properties, but it can not improve flour from weak wheat.
- Weak wheat is low in protein and gluten. Flour from it gives bread of poor quality with low porosity and small volume.
- Valuable wheat - by the quality of grain is close to strong, but does not match it in several parameters.
Growing of winter wheat
Because of the weak root system, winter wheat is extremely demanding of its predecessors, as well as the preparedness of the soil, its phytosanitary condition. Good predecessors are early harvest plants: legumes, corn , buckwheat, rapeseed, early and mid-ripened potatoes, oats .
The preparation of the soil before sowing of winter wheat consists in cultivation with harrows or cats. The surface should then be well leveled - the height of the crests after plowing can not exceed 2 cm. This will ensure a uniform distribution and the same depth of seeding.
Since winter wheat is very fastidious to the level of nutrients in the soil and its acidity, it is necessary to pre-fertilize it, providing a supply of vitamins and nutrients, and also to maintain a pH of 6.5-7. As fertilizers apply organic, phosphoric-potassium top dressing, and early in the spring add nitrogen fertilizers.
Terms of sowing winter wheat vary depending on the variety and climatic conditions, but on average this period falls on September 10-20. Method of sowing - row with row spacing 15 cm wide.
Spring and winter wheat - differences
The main difference between these forms of cereals is in the time of their sowing. So, winter is sown from autumn and the harvest is harvested next summer. While spring wheat is sown early in the spring, and the harvest is harvested in the autumn of the same year.
Winter varieties germinate before winter, in the spring they continue their growth and mature much earlier than spring varieties. As a rule, winter varieties produce a richer harvest, but they can be grown only in regions with snowy winters and mild climates. Without a high snow cover, the wheat will simply freeze.
How else to distinguish winter wheat from spring wheat: spring wheat is more drought-resistant and has better baking qualities, although less productive. Winter wheat is more demanding for soils.
Winter wheat grows in the Central Black Earth region, in the North Caucasus and on the right bank of the Volga. Spring - in the Urals, Siberia and the Trans-Volga.