ABSTRACT
Rye (Secale cereale L.) is a cereal that played a major role in feeding European populations throughout the Middle Ages, owing to its considerable winter hardiness. Recently the world production amounts to about 30 million tons (MT). The cultivated rye resulted from crossbreeding between Secale vavilovii Grossh. and the perennial species, Secale anatolicum Boiss. and Secale montanum Guss. It is part of the quite young cultivated plants and called a secondary crop, which originated as a weed in emmer and barley fields of the Near East. First cultivation began in Persia, Central Anatolia, and north of the Black Sea region about 3000 years ago. The domestication probably happened at several locations but, presumably, within the general area defined below. Rye grains found in Neolithic sites in Austria and Poland are considered to be of wild origin. The earliest seed of cultivated rye in central Europe came from the Hallstatt period, 1000 to 500 B.C. From there, the cropping of rye moved northwest toward Sweden from 2500 to 2000 B.C. During the 16th century rye cultivation subsequently increased, and at the beginning of the 20th century it succeeded even wheat in acreage.
