Triticale

Grass family (Gramineae)

Wheat , Triticale , Rye

Source: Bock D., MPI

Distribution, Yield, Use:

• Distribution (in 1986):
  The most important countries for cultivation are as Poland (600000 ha), France (300000 ha), ex-USSR (250000 ha), Australia (160000 ha), Portugal (80000 ha), USA (60000 ha), Brazil (30000 ha) and Germany (30000 ha). Lower soil and water requirements than wheat, good resistance to cold.
• Yield:
  Under optimal conditions, maximum yields wheat (ca. 90 dt/ha), under less favourable conditions can be 20-30% higher than wheat.
• Use:
  Seeds as animal fodder, seeds as raw material for baking, beer and porridge 10-13% protein in seed, of which 3-4% lysine.

Region of origin: Region of cultivation:

• Cultivation and Breeding:
  Triticale represents a new kind of cereal, which was developed in the course of the last hundred years. It is a genus hybrid of tetraploid or hexaploid wheat (Triticum) as the male plant, and diploid rye (Secale) as the female in the cross. Since the hybrid progeny are sterile to a high degree, their chromosome complement must be artificially doubled by treatment of the seedlings with colchicine, an alkaloid from the Autumn Crocus, in order to obtain fertile plants. Triticale combines the yield capability and grain quality of wheat with the winter resistance, undemanding nature and disease resistance of rye. In the temperate zones, winter varieties are almost exclusively grown; in the tropics and subtropics, summer varieties are grown.
• Breeding aims:
  The breeding aims include increasing the fullness of the seed, hardy seed structure, genetic stability, early ripening, stability, resistance to deformity under damp, resistance to fungal and bacterial disease, adaptation to particular daylight hour lengths, and improvement of the baking qualities (dough elasticity, gluten content).

Text by Dr. Wolfgang Schuchert
Adapted to HTML by R.Saedler