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Barley is chiefly taken after turnips, sometimes after peas and beans, but rarely by bad farmers either after wheat or oats, unless under special circumstances. When sown after turnips it is generally taken with one furrow, which is given as fast as the turnips are consumed, the ground thus receiving much benefit from the spring frosts. But often two, or more furrows are necessary for the fields last consumed, because when a spring drought sets in, the surface, from being poached by the removal or consumption of the crop, gets so hardened as to render a greater quantity of ploughing, harrowing and rolling necessary than would otherwise be called for. When sown after beans and peas, one winter and one spring ploughing are usually bestowed: but when after wheat or oats, three ploughings are necessary, so that the ground may be put in proper condition. These operations are very ticklish in a wet and backward season, and rarely in that case is the grower paid for the expense of his labor. Where land is in such a situation as to require three ploughings before it can be seeded with barley, it is better to summer-fallow it at once than to run the risks which seldom fail to accompany a quantity of spring labor. If the weather be dry, moisture is lost during the different processes, and an imperfect braird necessarily follows; if it be wet the benefit of ploughing is lost, and all the evils of a wet seed time are sustained by the future crop. The quantity sown is different in different cases, according to the quality of the soil and other circumstances. Upon very rich lands eight pecks per acre [11 t/km²] are sometimes sown; twelve [16 t/km²] is very common, and upon poor land more is sometimes given. By good judges a quantity of seed is sown sufficient to ensure a full crop, without depending on its sending out offsets; indeed, where that is done few offsets are produced, the crop grows and ripens equally, and the grain is uniformly good.
[edit] Production
Barley was grown in about 100 countries worldwide in 2005. The world production in 1974 was 148,818,870 tonnes, showing little change in the amount of barley produced worldwide.
[edit] Cultivars
"Two Row" redirects here. For the Wampum Treaty, see Guswhenta. Barley can be divided by the number of kernel rows in the head. Two forms have been cultivated; two-row barley (formerly known as Hordeum distichum but now also classed as Hordeum vulgare), and six-row barley (Hordeum vulgare). In two-row barley only one spikelet at each node is fertile; in the four-row and six-row forms, all three are fertile. A four-row type (formerly classed as (Hordeum tetrastichum) is actually a six-row type with very lax structure.
Two-row barley is the oldest form, wild barley having two rows as well. Two-row barley has a lower protein content than six-row barley and thus more fermentable sugars content. High protein barley is best suited for animal feed. Malting barley is usually lower protein [3]('low grain nitrogen', usually produced without a late fertilizer application) which shows more uniform germination, needs shorter steeping, and has less protein in the extract that can make beer cloudy. Two-row barley is traditionally used in English ale style beers. Six-row barley is common in some American lager style beers, whereas two-row malted summer barley is preferred for traditional German beers. Four-row is unsuitable for brewing.
Barley is widely adaptable and is currently a major crop of the temperate areas where it is grown as a summer crop and tropical areas where it is sown as a winter crop. Its germination time is anywhere from 1 to 3 days. Barley likes to grow under cool conditions but is not particularly winter hardy.
Oats, barley, and some products made from them.
Half of the United States' barley production is used as an animal feed.[5] A large part of the remainder is used for malting and is a key ingredient in beer and whisky production. Two-row barley is traditionally used in German and English beers, and six-row barley in American beers. Non-alcoholic drinks such as barley water and mugicha (popular in Korea and Japan) are also made from unhulled barley. Barley is also used in soups and stews, particularly in Eastern Europe. A small amount is used in health foods and coffee substitutes.
Barley is more tolerant of soil salinity than wheat, which might explain the increase of barley cultivation on Mesopotamia from the 2nd millennium BC onwards. Barley is not as cold tolerant as the winter wheats (Triticum aestivum), fall rye (Secale cereale) or winter Triticale (X TricticaleWitt.), but may be sown as a winter crop in warmer areas of the world such as Australia.
Barley must have its fibrous outer hull removed before it can be eaten. Barley grains with their hulls still on are called covered barley or 'hulled barley". Once the grain has had the inedible hull removed, it is called dehulled barley. At this stage, the grain still has its bran and germ, which are nutritious. Dehulled barley is considered a whole grain, and is a popular health food. Pearl barley or pearled barley is hulled barley which has been processed further to remove the bran. It may be polished, a process known as "pearling". Dehulled or pearl barley may be processed into a variety of barley products, including flour, flakes similar to oatmeal, and grits.
According to a recent study,[6] eating whole grain barley can regulate blood sugar for up to 10 hrs after consumption compared to white or even whole-grain wheat, which has a similar glycemic index.
An additional barley product is the straw. It is placed in mesh bags and floated in fish ponds or water gardens to help reduce algal growth without harming the plants or animals in the habitat.
[edit] Plant diseases
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This plant is known or likely to be susceptible to barley mild mosaic bymovirus as well as Bacterial blight. Barley can be susceptible to many diseases but plant breeders have been working hard to incorporate resistance. The devastation caused by any one disease will depend upon the susceptiblity of the variety being grown and the environmental conditions during disease development.
[edit] Composition
The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) cites the following composition of barley meal according to Ernst von Bibra, omitting the salts:
[edit] Naming
In British English barley may be referred to as corn.[7]
[edit] References
[edit] Footnotes
- , [1]
- , -Saltini Antonio, I semi della civiltà. Grano, riso e mais nella storia delle società umane,, prefazione di Luigi Bernabò Brea Avenue Media, Bologna 1996
- , Crawford, Gary W.; Gyoung-Ah Lee (2003). "Agricultural Origins in the Korean Peninsula". Antiquity 77 (295): 87–95.
- , [2]
- , "Barley", Retrieved on 2008-2-2.
- , Nilsson, A.; et al. (2006). "Effects of GI and content of indigestible carbohydrates of cereal-based evening meals on glucose tolerance at a subsequent standardised breakfast". European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 60: 1092–1099. doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602423.
- , Partridge, Eric; Janet Whitcut (ed.) (1995). Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English, 1st American ed., New York: W.W. Norton, 1995, p.82. ISBN 0393037614.
[edit] General references
- Brunt, A.A., Crabtree, K., Dallwitz, M.J., Gibbs, A.J., Watson, L. and Zurcher, E.J. (eds.) (1996 onwards).
- Barley mild mosaic bymovirus.
- Plant Viruses Online: Descriptions and Lists from the VIDE Database. Version: 20th August 1996.
- TSN 40865. Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
[edit] See also
John Barleycorn
Maris Otter
[edit] External links
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