When domesticating wheat, Neolithic humans preferred plants that kept the grain on the stalk until ripe. That not only made the crop easier to harvest, but also made it faster to separate grain from chaff.

Shahal Abbo at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and his colleagues experimentally threshed nearly 200 types of wheat, including wild strains and traditional varieties. For wheat heads that did not shatter, threshing time was reduced by about 30% compared with more-brittle types. And for plants with resilient heads and weak husks, threshing time decreased by a further 85%. This resulted in many fewer broken kernels, making the seed more likely to be saved for future sowing.

Post-harvest processing, sometimes considered a barrier to the domestication of cereal crops, may have played an underappreciated part in promoting it, the authors say.

Ann. Bot. 112, 829–837 (2013)