Editing Cereal (section)

=== Planting ===

[[File:Green rice sheaves planted in a paddy field with long shadows at golden hour in Don Det Laos.jpg|thumb|left|Newly planted [[rice]] in a [[paddy field]] ]]

In the tropics, warm-season cereals can be grown at any time of the year. In temperate zones, these cereals can only be grown when there is no frost. Most cereals are planted in [[Tillage|tilled soils]], which reduces weeds and breaks up the surface of a field. Most cereals need regular water in the early part of their life cycle.  Rice is commonly grown in flooded fields,<ref name="IRRI water mgmt">{{cite web |url=http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/step-by-step-production/growth/water-management |title=Water Management |publisher=[[International Rice Research Institute]] |access-date=November 4, 2023 }}</ref> though some strains are grown on dry land.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gupta |first1=Phool Chand |last2=O'Toole |first2=J. C. O'Toole |year=1986 |title=Upland Rice: A Global Perspective |publisher=[[International Rice Research Institute]] |isbn=978-971-10-4172-4}}</ref> Other warm climate cereals, such as sorghum, are adapted to arid conditions.<ref>{{cite news |last=Danovich |first=Tove |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/dec/15/sorghum-wonder-grain-american-food-quinoa |title=Move over, quinoa: sorghum is the new 'wonder grain' |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=15 December 2015 |access-date=31 July 2018}}</ref>

Cool-season cereals are grown mainly in temperate zones. These cereals often have both winter varieties for autumn sowing, winter dormancy, and early summer harvesting, and spring varieties planted in spring and harvested in late summer. Winter varieties have the advantage of using water when it is plentiful, and permitting a second crop after the early harvest. They flower only in spring as they require [[vernalization]], exposure to cold for a specific period, fixed genetically. Spring crops grow when it is warmer but less rainy, so they may need irrigation.<ref name="Barr-2019"/>{{Clear}}