CEREALS AND GRAINS - Agronomy II

Learn to Grow  Cereal, Legume and Pseudo Grain Crops

• Expand your knowledge and understanding of Grain Crops
• Grow niche crops or farm on a large scale
• Work on or off farms, as a farmer or supplying services or products to farmers

What To Grow?

This Course will enable you to better decide what to grow, when, and where. Before considering what you might grow on any property, you need to consider the conditions the crop must grow under. Consider:

• Climate
• Soil
• Aspect and Altitude

Climate
Rainfall can be affected by altitude. Higher rainfall usually occurs at higher altitudes. High rainfall at higher altitudes may be better for growing grass for livestock production; but may be a disadvantage for grain production particularly at harvest

Soil
Soils need to be managed for optimum root health and plant growth. Cultivations soil fertility and drainage are key factors.

Aspect and Altitude
High altitude sites can often be both colder and have more difficult soils for agronomic crops. Weather conditions can be more extreme.
Rocky outcrops may be more likely; and often soils may be poorer. At very high altitudes, where natural vegetation is stunted, the amount of organic matter in the soil may not be as high as in lowland areas.
Slopes that face the sun may experience higher daytime temperatures. Slopes facing away from the sun, experience lower temperatures.

Lesson Structure

There are 9 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction to Grains
   • Production of Crops in Different Climates and Ecological Zones
   • Climate
   • Soil
   • Aspect and Altitude
   • Crop Growing Periods and Growing Degree Days.
   • Cropping Season as Affected by Moisture Availability
   • World Cropping
   • Cereal Crop Growth Stages
   • Jointing Stage
   • Booting Stage
   • Grain Fill Stage
   • Zadok Scale
   • Grain Types
   • Wheat
   • Barley
   • Sorghum
   • Oats
   • Rice
   • Corn
   • Canola
   • Pulses
   • Production Systems
   • Crop Rotation
   • Cover Crops
   • Crop Islands
2. Grain Growing and Processing: Infrastructure and Machinery
   • Equipment Requirements
   • Choosing A Tractor and Accessories
   • Equipment and Tools Used in Different Crop Production Operations
   • Tillage
   • Seed
   • Certified and Saved Seed
   • Seed Production
   • Planting
   • Other Crop Production Operations
   • Irrigation Equipment
   • Crop Lodging
   • Harvest
   • Cereal Harvesting Equipment
   • Threshers/Combined Harvester Thresher
   • Cleaning
   • Grain Storage
   • Silos
   • Silo Bags
   • Bunkers
   • Insect Pest Control in Grain Storage
3. Wheat, Spelt, Triticosecale, Oats, Barley, Rye
   • Wheat and Spelt
   • Cultivars
   • Appearance
   • Cultivation
   • Soil and Fertility
   • Nitrogen
   • Phosphorus
   • Potassium
   • Zinc
   • Crop Health
   • Crown Rot
   • Stripe Rust
   • Leaf Rust
   • Stem Rust
   • Yellow Leaf Spot
   • Nematodes
   • Harvest and Uses
   • Tritosecale
   • Appearance
   • Cultivation
   • Soil and Fertility
   • Harvest and Uses
   • Cultivars
   • Oats
   • Cultivars
   • Appearance
   • Cultivation
   • Soil and Fertility
   • Crop Health
   • Harvest and Uses
   • Barley
   • Cultivars
   • Appearance
   • Cultivation
   • Soil and Fertility
   • Nitrogen
   • Phosphorus
   • Aluminium And Boron Toxicity
   • Crop Health
   • Crown Rot
   • Net Blotch
   • Spot Blotch
   • Powdery Mildew
   • Harvest and Uses.
   • Rye
   • Winter and Spring Rye
   • Cultivars
   • Appearance
   • Cultivation
   • Soil and Fertility
   • Crop Health
   • Harvest and Uses
4. Maize, Sorghum and Millet
   • Maize
   • Cultivars
   • Appearance
   • Cultivation
   • Soil and Fertility
   • Nitrogen
   • Phosphorous
   • Potassium
   • Sulphur
   • Iron
   • Crop Health
   • Boil Smut (Ustilago Maydis)
   • Rust (Puccinia Sorghi)
   • Stalk and Cob Rots
   • Harvest and Uses
   • Sorghum
   • Cultivars
   • Appearance
   • Cultivation
   • Soil and Fertility
   • Crop Health
   • Ergot (Claviceps Africana)
   • Insect Pests
   • Heliothis
   • Sorghum Midge
   • Harvest and Uses
   • Millet
   • Cultivars
   • Appearance
   • Cultivation
   • Soil and Fertility
   • Crop Health
   • Grey Leaf Spot
   • Charcoal Rot
   • Pests
   • Harvest and Uses
5. Rice
   • Rice (Oryza Spp.)
   • Cultivars
   • Commonly Cultivated Varieties of Rice
   • Grain Type - Colour: Brown Vs White
   • Different Varieties for Eating
   • Cultivation
   • Environmental Overview
   • Altitude
   • Water
   • Irrigating Rice
   • Rainfed - Terrace Systems.
   • Crop Health and Diseases
   • Bacterial Blight
   • Bacterial Leaf Streak
   • Blast, Leaf and Collar
   • Red Stripe
   • Harvest
   • Ratooning
   • Rice-Wheat Systems
6. Pulse Crops
   • Soybeans
   • Crop Health
   • Pidgeon Peas (Congo Beans)
   • Appearance
   • Cultivars
   • Cultivation
   • Soil and Fertility
   • Crop Health
   • Harvest
   • Lima Beans
   • Appearance
   • Cultivation
   • Soil and Fertility
   • Crop Health
   • Harvest
   • Cowpeas
   • Appearance
   • Cultivation
   • Soil and Fertility
   • Crop Health
   • Harvest
   • Mung Beans
   • Cultivation
   • Soil and Fertility
   • Crop Health
   • Harvest
   • Chick Peas
   • Soil and Fertility
   • Crop Health
   • Lentils
   • Appearance
   • Cultivation
   • Soil and Fertility
   • Crop Health
   • Harvest
   • Faba Beans
   • Appearance
   • Cultivation
   • Soil and Fertility
   • Crop Health
   • Harvest
   • Field Peas (Green Peas)
   • Growing Conditions
   • Propagation
   • Soil
   • Fertility
   • Crop Health
7. Pseudo Cereals
   • Chia
   • Quinoa
   • Appearance
   • Cultivation
   • Soil and Fertility
   • Crop Health
   • Harvest
   • Amaranth
   • Appearance
   • Cultivars
   • Cultivation
   • Soil and Fertility
   • Crop Health
   • Harvest
   • Buckwheat
   • Cultivation
   • Soil and Fertility
   • Crop Health
   • Sesame Seed
   • Cultivars
   • Cultivation
   • Soil and Fertility
   • Crop Health
   • Harvest
8. Processing Grains for Human Consumption
   • Post-Harvest Processing
   • Drying
   • Morphologically Determining Moisture Content
   • Portable Moisture Meters
   • Simple Drying Test to Determine Moisture
   • Laboratory Testing
   • Types of Drying
   • Natural Drying
   • Heat-Drying (Hot Air Drying)
   • When Is It Dry?
   • Storage
   • Aerating and Cooling
   • Moisture Content in Stored Grain
   • Treatment During Storage
   • Mechanical Treatments
   • Grain Processing for Consumption
   • Hulling
   • Wheat Processing
   • Cleaning and Scouring
   • Tempering
   • Grinding/Milling of Wheat
   • Bleaching the Flour
   • Blending and Final Production of Flours
   • Extraction Rate
   • Processing Maize (Corn)
   • Corn Refining
   • Processing Rice
   • Processing Oats
   • Processing Pseudo grains
   • Quinoa and Amaranth
   • Fortifying Foods
9. Grains for Livestock Consumption
   • Differences Between Crops for Human Consumption and Those for Animal Consumption
   • C3 And C4 Grasses - C3 Plants - C4 Plants - Legume Forage - Mixed Grass and Legume Forages
   • Nutrient-Dense Forages and Forage Quality
   • Forage Maturity and Nutritional Value
   • Forage Quality
   • Palatability and Taste
   • Intake
   • Digestibility
   • Nutrient Density
   • Anti-Nutritional Factors
   • Livestock Performance and Growth
   • Specific Forage, Feed and Grass Types
   • Feeding and Ration Calculations

What is the Difference between Wheat and Spelt?

Wheat and spelt are both from the genus Tritichum. This genus comprises around 30 species, from Mediterranean and South West Asia.
This plant species is one of the most important grain crops, a staple food for a large proportion of mankind, particularly in temperate regions.

Cultivars

• T. aesativum (Common Wheat)
• T. boeoticum (EinKorn, Single Grain): a wild species of wheat
• T. turgidum (Durum Wheat): hardy drought resistant

There are three main types of cultivars: Diploids, Allopolyploids and Interspecific hybrids 

• Diploids are a primitive grouping.
• Interspecific hybrids can be artificial or natural in origin.
• Allopolyploids have a hybrid origin, and can vary in the number of chromosomes they have.

Appearance
Annual grasses, flat leaf blades, thick spikes. Wheat has small auricles with hairs

Cultivation
Grows in varied climates, but mainly cool to temperate regions with varied rainfall. Loam soils preferred

Soil and Fertility
Wheat is grown successfully on a wide range of soils because it is comparatively tolerant of different conditions. Acid soils are unsuitable for some cultivars. Be aware of varietal differences in sensitivity to acid soils and boron toxicity. If yields are to approach their climate potential, then soil conditions need to be considered carefully. To grow high yielding crops the soil should be well to moderately well drained, have good physical characteristics and no barriers to root penetration, have no extremes of pH, be non-saline and have an adequate nutrient supply.

Why study this course.

Agronomist are an integral part of food production responsible for playing a key part in the production of healthy grain and legume crops. Much of our food is grown on a broad acre farm, and farmers rely on the advice and recommendations of Agronomists to produce a healthy crop and to maximise yields.