An Introduction to the Physiological-Ecological Analysis of Wheat Yield

Abstract

There are approximately 350,000 botanically acknowledged plant species, but only 24 (i.e., 0.007 percent of them) are used as crops to satisfy most human requirements for food and fiber (Wittwer, 1980). Due to our strong dependence upon a limited number of plant species, the future welfare of humankind is strongly linked to the degree of understanding we achieve about their potential productivity and adaptability to environmental constraints (Evans, 1975). Not only are these species remarkably few, but their contributions to the total production are not evenly distributed among crops. Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum, L.) undoubtedly plays a major role among the few species widely grown as food sources, and likely was central to the beginning of agriculture (Harlan, 1981).