ABSTRACT
Seeds for global wheat agroecosystem were sown by the early prehistoric farming communities thriving in the Fertile Crescent, comprising the present day nations such as Syria, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Iran. Some of the earliest excavations that contained wheat seeds occurs in Northern Iraq. Egyptians grew wheat varieties in the Nile valley during 5000 B.C. Wheat grains were traced in the archeological sites located in the Indus valley that date back to 3000 B.C. Wheat reached the North American main land along with European migrations that occurred during 1600s. Currently, global wheat agroecosystem is a conglomerate of cropping belts that occur all across different continents. It encompasses several types of wheat like emmer, durum, einkorn, spelt and a large number of different genotypes. Researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Centre, Mexico actually demarcate global wheat into several mega-environments based on water resources, soil fertility and crop productivity. They also stress on human population that each wheat mega-environment supports in that region [1].
