Editing Einkorn (section)

== Description ==

Einkorn is a short variety of wild wheat, usually less than {{convert|70|cm|inch}} tall and is not very productive of edible seeds.<ref name=ZoharyHopf3343/> The principal difference between wild einkorn and cultivated einkorn is the method of seed dispersal. In the wild variety the seed head usually shatters and drops the kernels (seeds) of wheat onto the ground.<ref name="Complex-Origins"/> This facilitates a new crop of wheat. In the domestic variety, the seed head remains intact. While such a [[mutation]] may occasionally occur in the wild, it is not viable there in the long term: the intact seed head will only drop to the ground when the stalk rots, and the kernels will not scatter but form a tight clump which inhibits germination and makes the mutant seedlings susceptible to disease. But harvesting einkorn with intact seed heads was easier for early human harvesters, who could then manually break apart the seed heads and scatter any kernels not eaten. Over time and through selection, conscious or unconscious, the human preference for intact seed heads created the domestic variety, which has slightly larger kernels than wild einkorn. Domesticated einkorn thus requires human planting and harvesting for its continuing existence.<ref>Weiss and Zohary, pp. S239–S242</ref> This process of domestication may have taken only 20 to 200 years, resulting in a wheat that was easier to harvest.<ref>{{cite book |last=Anderson |first=Patricia C. |year=1991 |chapter=Harvesting of Wild Cereals During the Natufian as seen from Experimental Cultivation and Harvest of Wild Einkorn Wheat and Microwear Analysis of Stone Tools |title=Natufian Culture in the Levant |editor-first=Ofer |editor-last=Bar-Yosef |location=Ann Arbor, Michigan |series=International Monographs in Prehistory |page=523 |publisher=Berghahn Books}}</ref>

An important characteristic facilitating the domestication of einkorn and other annual grains is that the plants are largely self-pollinating. Thus, the desirable (for human management) traits of einkorn could be perpetuated at less risk of cross-fertilization with wild plants which might have traits – e.g. smaller seeds, shattering seed heads,<ref name = "Complex-Origins" >{{ Cite journal |language=en |year=2009 |first4=Robin |first3=Wayne |first2=Martin |first1=Terence |last4=Allaby |last3=Powell |last2=Jones |last1=Brown |publisher=Cell Press |type=Review |journal=Trends in Ecology & Evolution |issn=0169-5347 |title=The complex origins of domesticated crops in the Fertile Crescent |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=103–109 |doi=10.1016/j.tree.2008.09.008 |pmid=19100651 |bibcode=2009TEcoE..24..103B |url=https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/367/1/WRAP_Allaby_.pdf }}</ref> as less desirable for human management.<ref>{{ Cite book |last=Bellwood |first=Peter |year=2005 |title=First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies |location=Malden, MA |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |pages=46–49}}</ref>