These crops are cultivated on a large scale to meet local requirments. Main cereal crops of Pakistan include rice, wheat, gram and various lentils.
Cereal Crops are members of the grass family grown for their edible starchy seeds. The important cereal crops produced in Canada are wheat, barley, oats, rye and corn.
Cereal Crops are members of the grass family grown for their edible starchy seeds. The important cereal crops produced in Canada are wheat, barley, oats, rye and corn; small hectarages of triticale and grain millets are grown. The cool, short growing seasons prevent commercial production of rice and grain sorghum.
Cereal crops may be divided into spring-sown types, which complete their life cycle in one season (summer annuals), and fall-sown types, which require an overwintering period (winter annuals). Among the fall-sown types, winter rye is the most winter hardy, followed by winter triticale and winter wheat, then winter barley; winter oats are least hardy. No winter forms of grain millets or corn exist. Spring-sown cereals are grown in all provinces except Newfoundland.
In 2006 approximately 98% of the 10.7 million ha of wheat, 90% of the 3.8 million ha of barley and 77% of the 1.9 million ha of oats produced were grown in the Prairie provinces. Saskatchewan is the leading producer of spring wheat; Alberta, of barley and oats. Significant quantities of oats are also produced in Ontario and Québec.
In 2006, 244 900 ha of mixed grain (usually oats and barley grown together) are produced, mainly in Ontario. Production of spring rye is negligible. Of the nearly 1.4 million hectares of grain corn produced, about 70% is grown in southern Ontario; smaller hectarages, in Québec and Manitoba. Winter rye can be grown in many areas of Canada but, of the 175 900 ha, 66% is produced in Saskatchewan and Alberta. Significant winter-wheat production is limited to southern Ontario and southern Alberta. Small hectarages of winter triticale and winter barley are produced in southern Ontario, but winter conditions in Canada are too severe for winter oats.
Wheat, oats, barley, rye and triticale are considered cool-season crops. Their spring forms are normally seeded between mid-Apr and mid-May, completing their life cycles in 80-100 days under Canadian conditions. The winter forms, seeded in Sept, overwinter as seedling plants and mature the following July. The other cereals are warm-season crops. Corn is seeded during the first 3 weeks of May and requires the full growing season to reach maturity. Grain millets may be seeded in May or June and mature in about 90 days. Rye, corn and sorghum are cross-pollinated species; the other cereal crops are self-pollinated.