Triticum aestivum

Wheat is one of the most important crops in the world. As the word population increases, the demand for wheat will continue to grow. Triticum aestivum is the number one food crop in the world based on acreage under cultivation and total production with production averages 216 million hectares.

It was first domesticated nearly 10,000 year ago in the fertile Crescent of the Tigris-Euphrates basin in Southwestern Asia.

Most of the wheat production is consumed as flour, with bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) accounting for approximately 80% of total consumption and durum wheat (Triticum durum) accounting for remainder. 

Triticum aestivum is the most important carbohydrate source for human consumption. It is 7 percent carbohydrate by weight with protein and indigestible fiber each comprising 10 to 15 percent.

Of the complex carbohydrate in Triticum aestivum, 75 percent is the chain of branching glucose units, amylopectin and 25 percent is the linear chain of glucose units, amylose.

The major grain protein of Triticum aestivum is gluten. It is and elastic form of protein that gives rise to unique viscoelastic properties of dough produce from bread flour suitable for a range of end products.
Triticum aestivum