Origin of Domesticated Plants
Wheat

Plant Germ Plasm
• The first category of germ plasm includes the native or indigenous varieties of cultivated crop plants used elsewhere in commercial agricultural production.
• At present many of the major crop plants have a limited genetic base, as these have been developed through a series of selections that emphasize yield often at the expense of insect or disease resistance, environmental tolerance, multiple use, etc.

Seed Savers, Decorah, Iowa

Plant Germ Plasm
• The second category of germ plasm material includes the identification and collection of wild relatives of the more commonly cultivated plants.

Wild Tomato Species From Peru
Domestic High Altitude Another S. sisymbrifolium

Plant Germ Plasm
• The third category includes plants not yet in the economic system and not related to domesticated plants. These may have properties of great value to us, but these can be very difficult to identify.

Seed and germplasm storage facility
– Kew Seed Bank

Breadfruit

Diane Ragone Checking Breadfruit
Collection in Hawaii

Food Plants

Grasses

Bamboo Forest

Bamboo Toys and Bike –
Exploit hollow, light stems

Grass Body Structure

Grass Body Structure

Barley Grain or Caryposis
Bran
Germ

Wheat Germ and Bran

Top agricultural products, by crop types
(million metric tons) 2004 data
Cereals
Vegetables and Melons
Roots and Tubers
Milk
Fruit
Meat
Oilcrops
Fish (2001 estimate)
Eggs
Pulses
Vegetable Fiber
Source:
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
2,263
866
715
619
503
259
133
130
63
60
30

Top agricultural products, by individual crops
(million metric tons) 2004 data
Sugar Cane
Maize
Wheat
Rice
Potatoes
Sugar Beet
Soybeans
Oil Palm Fruit
Barley
162
154
Tomato
Source:
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
120
1,324
721
627
605
328
249
204

Wheat

Wheat – Triticum aestivum

Evolution of Modern Wheat

Einkorn wheat – Triticum monococcum

Emmer Wheat – Triticum turgidum

Durum Wheat – Triticum turgidum

Semolina Flour

Goatgrass – Triticum tauschii

Bread Wheat – Triticum aestivum

Whole Grain Wheat and Bread

Corn or Maize –
Zea mays

Typical Corn Growth

Typical ear of corn

Variation in ear size and kernel color from
Mexican landraces of corn

Zea mays subsp.
mexicana
Zea mays subsp.
mays

Teosinte –
Zea diploperennis

Ear of teosinte – Zea diploperennis

Teosinte vs. Corn Growth
Teosinte Corn

Zea mays

Corn Types

Popcorn

The One Food Problem

Cliff House at Mesa Verde – constructed circa 1200 AD

Beginnings of the Anasazi
• During their so-called Archaic Period (5500 - 100
BCE) the Anasazi were hunter-gatherers - they lived mostly on roasted seeds of Indian grass
( Oryzopsis sp.), cattails ( Typha lattifolia ), salt bush ( Atriplex canescens - Chenopodiaceae), and sheep sorrel ( Rumex acetosella - Polygonaceae);
Rabbits and a few deer provided the bulk of the animal protein in the diet - they lived mostly in caves or in depressions with simple coverings made of juniper branches ( Juniperus scopulorum -
Cupressaceae)

Oryzopsis sp.
– Indian ricegrass

Atriplex canescens - saltbush

Typha latifolia - cattail

Rumex acetosella
– sheep sorrel

Changes to Anasazi life
• About 100 BCE, maize plants arrived and Anasazi life began to change - at first the Anasazi did not adopt maize except as a novelty
• About 100 BCE, Anasazi made a change to the so called Basket Maker II lifestyle in which they made baskets, sandals, and nets woven from yucca fibers ( Yucca baccata - Agavaceae)

Yucca baccata

Anasazi yucca products

Basket Maker III
• Basket maker III was from about 400 - 700 AD here they became much more agricultural probably due to the arrival of beans Phaseolus vulgaris (pinto and kidney beans) and P. acutifolius (tepary or pavi beans)
• The Anasazi began to select maize varieties with larger ears and more productivity
• They also begin to experiment with irrigation and developed or acquired bows and arrows

Phaseolus vulgaris
– pinto, kidney beans

Phaseolus acutifolius
– tepary or pavi bean

Pueblo I
• Pueblo I lasted from 700-900 AD - here the
Anasazi adopted an increasingly sedentary lifestyle with advances in basketry and pottery, cotton was used for cloth, dwellings were made of stone above ground with pit houses transformed into ceremonial kivas
• Large stores of grain made higher populations possible and also led to warfare and raiding for grain

Anasazi Ruin

Pueblo II and III
• Pueblo II (900 - 1100 AD) and Pueblo III ( 1100 - 1300
AD) saw the development of even larger towns and cities, dwellings were built in cliffs for protection - made very sophisticated baskets and pottery, had highly developed irrigation systems - may have used captive turkeys for meat, feeding them on grain
• Then from 1276 to 1299 there were 23 years of continuous drought - the Anasazi ultimately abandoned their cities and moved south to better drainage areas - today their descendents survive as the Zuni, Hopi, and Rio Grande
Pueblo tribes

Timeline of Anasazi culture

What the Anasazi Left

Rice

Wild Rice – Zizania aquatica

Wild Rice Harvest

Rice – Oryza sativa

Rice Paddies

Planting Rice Thailand

Rice and Azolla

Brown and White Rice

Barley

Barley – Hordeum vulgare

Barley Malt

Barley Malt Product

Pearl Barley

Triticale
On left – wheat, triticale, rye

The Trouble with Tribbles

Forage Grasses

Alfalfa and Red Clover
– Legumes, not grasses

Kentucky Blue Grass

Timothy – Phleum pratense

Fescues – Festuca sp.

Big Bluestem – Andropogon gerardii

Little Bluestem – Andropogon scoparius

Blue Grama – Bouteloua gracilis

Switchgrass – Panicum virgatum

Legumes

Legumes
• Legumes are members of pea, bean family
(Fabaceae) and are very important sources of food due to their highly nutritious seeds
• Legume seeds are very high in protein due to the nitrogen fixing root nodules with which legumes can extract N
2 gas to make ammonium which they use when synthesizing protein

Protein content various foods

Soybeans

Soybean – Glycine max

Tofu – Bean Curd

Soy milk

Soy sauce

Edamame

Miso – soybean paste