ABSTRACT
Cereals play a decisive and irreplaceable role both in agricultural production and in feeding the world population. Its widespread distribution was made possible by the great variability in the species belonging to the cereal group (e.g., wheat, rice, maize, barley, rye, triticale, oats, sorghum, buckwheat, millet) and, within each species, by the great choice of varieties capable of adapting to extremely different climatic conditions. All in all, these species occupy 45% of the arable land in the world. This percentage differs from one continent or climatic region to another (FAOSTAT 2010), but at least one representative of this group can be grown in all regions inhabited by humans.
