Barley (Hordeum vulgare)

Hordeum vulgare, commonly called barley, is a major self-pollinating cereal grass of the family Poaceae, a diploid species carrying fourteen chromosomes and grown across temperate regions worldwide. It ranks among the earliest cereals ever domesticated, brought under cultivation in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC as selective breeding produced nonshattering spikelets that made the grain far easier to harvest than competing wild cereals. In 2023 it was the fourth largest cereal crop globally by production, at one hundred forty six million tonnes, trailing only maize, rice and wheat, with Russia the leading producer. About seventy percent of the crop is used as animal feed, while most of the remainder is malted for brewing beer and distilling whisky.