Everything about triticale and its production

26 October 2023

Articles

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Thanks to breeding achievements, today people’s dreams of unpretentious, healthy and versatile products are becoming a reality. A striking example of this is the emergence of triticale, an amazingly fertile and viable hybrid of rye and wheat. Below we will talk about what this crop looks like, what its features and prospects for cultivation are.

Background

Since ancient times, biologists have been looking for ways to combine the winter hardiness of rye and the valuable qualities of wheat in one plant. The first attempts to develop such a hybrid began back in 1875 by botanist S. A. Wilson. But then the resulting culture turned out to be less promising, since it could not reproduce. The German breeder W. Rimpau was able to achieve great success — his triticale could already be reproduced by seed.

Targeted work on the selection of triticale was started only in the 1930s by the Russian scientist V. E. Pisarev. The first commercial Rosner variety was shipped to Canada in 1968. And from that moment on, the plant began to spread quickly across continents and countries. In the USSR, record harvests of the hybrid began to be collected in 1979. At that time, the state farm in the Minsk Region harvested 8.2 t/ha, which exceeded the yield of winter wheat by 1.2 t/ha.

Botanical description

Triticale is an amphidiploid and is the first grain crop created by man. The name comes from the Latin: Triticum - wheat and Secale - rye. There are no analogs in nature.

For reference: amphidiploid is a hybrid organism with a complete chromosome set of both parents. It differs from standard hybrids in increased fertility and the ability to reproduce while maintaining unique properties.

According to all morphological characteristics, the crop is no different from other cereals.

Large bluish or dark green lanceolate leaves with a waxy coating. Up to 35 cm long and up to 3 cm wide. They are formed earlier than in ordinary wheat and remain green longer, which improves ear nutrition.
The inflorescence is in the form of a complex, complete spike up to 15 cm long, cylindrical or spindle-shaped. Up to 30–40 spikelets can form on the stem, each containing three flowers. Three grains are subsequently formed from them. The plant is self-pollinating.
The caryopsis is yellow-brown, up to 12 mm in length. The surface has a groove in the center, slightly wrinkled. There is a pronounced floccus at the top.

The root system of triticale is fibrous, capable of penetrating to a depth of 1.5 m. The hollow stem has from 5 to 7 internodes, sometimes floccose with a spike. Its height varies between 70–180 cm depending on the variety, but being thick at the base it does not lodge.

The plant was classified as a separate genus, which currently has three varieties: a hybrid of rye with soft and durum wheat, as well as with a combination of them.

Biological features

Triticale has truly enormous potential:

Frost resistance. The culture is undemanding to air temperature. The first sprouts can be noticed at +1…+2 °C. At the same time, the seedlings can withstand short-term temperature drops down to –6 degrees. Winter varieties do not die at –18…–20 °С.
Drought resistance. Compared to wheat, the moisture requirement is lower. Irrigation is required only during periods of intensive growth. The plant tolerates temperatures up to +40 degrees.
Attitude to light. Triticale loves long daylight hours. In sunny weather and with sufficient humidity, it produces an increased yield. Large amounts of sugars accumulate in grains and leaves.
Soil requirement. It can also grow on poor soils; it is cultivated on gray, woody-podzolic, forest soils, and loams.
Pest resistance. The crop is less likely to suffer from leaf rust, fusarium, and septoriose. The grain is not affected by "potato disease".
Crop productivity. With proper agricultural technology, up to 80 centners of grain varieties and up to 60 centners of fodder varieties can be harvested from 1 hectare. This yield is largely due to the tendency to tiller at lower sowing rates, which was inherited from rye.

Varieties

The hybrid is divided into two groups depending on its purpose.

Cereals
"altaiskaya 5"	"yarilo"	"amphidiploid 256"
Winter variety. The yield per hectare reaches 32.6 centners and can reach up to 70 centners. The bushes are tall, up to 139 cm, resistant to lodging. The culture is not afraid of powdery mildew, stem rust, and snow mold.	To a greater extent, it applies to grain fodder plants; it allows harvesting up to 25 centners of crops from 1 hectare. It has high immunity to powdery mildew, seeding blight and stinking smut.	Winter plant with an average yield of 43.6 c/ha. It does not shatter, does not lodge and can withstand drought. The resulting grain goes to the food industry.

Feeding
"argo"	"tornado"
Winter variety for making hay and haylage. The maximum yield from 1 hectare reaches 180 centners. The plant is not affected by septoriose, brown rust, or viral spot.	Winter crop up to 157 cm in height. Dry matter yield reaches 60 c/ha. Susceptible to snow mold, but practically not affected by septoriose and powdery mildew.

It is important that seeds of any variety can be collected independently - they retain their properties from generation to generation.

Cultivation technology

For the most part, triticale is grown in Belarus, Poland and Germany. In Russia, cultivated areas occupy no more than 500 thousand hectares, which is primarily due to the difficulties of grain processing. All of them are located in the Central Black-Earth zone and the North Caucasus.

For cultivation, soddy and podzolic soils are chosen, the acidity of which is in the range of 5–6 pH. Triticale does not like a lot of moisture, so heavy, poorly drained soils are not suitable.

Sowing

Smooth, sorted grains with a purity of at least 97%, grades I and II, are chosen. They are preliminarily subjected to air-thermal heating. Seed dressing is not necessary because triticale is resistant to stinking smut.

The optimal time for sowing is considered to be the beginning of September. Grains planted at this time show the greatest harvest. A decrease in yield is observed if triticale is sown after August 20 and after September 10.

Seeds are sown in a cross or narrow row manner, but a regular row sowing to a depth of 5–8 cm is also allowed. The rate is determined by the cultivation zone and varies from 3.5 to 7.5 million/ha. The following recommendations have been made for the regions:

nonblack earth - up to 6.5 million seeds per 1 ha;
Central Black-Earth - 5–6 million;
Siberia - at least 7.5 million.

However, agronomists need to focus on climatic conditions, cultivation goals and agricultural technology used. All forage varieties are sown at a higher rate.

Vegetation and care during it

Triticale is a self-pollinating crop, but cross-pollination is possible. The best tilling capacity is observed in the autumn, and it continues in the spring. Ripening occurs 3-5 days later compared to winter wheat, and the total growing season - from germination, tillering and stem elongation to ear formation, flowering and full ripeness - takes 250-325 days.

The fertilizer system includes the application of 25–50 kg of nitrogen, 26–40 kg of potassium and 12–16 kg of phosphorus to obtain 1 ton of grain. These elements are especially important during the stem elongation period and during grain formation. Spring surface fertilizing is carried out as early as possible, and root fertilizing is carried out at the first opportunity to go into the field.

Harvesting

The triticale grain does not fall off the ear, since it is tightly enclosed in the spikelet scales. Harvesting is carried out in one or two phases. When threshing, be sure to increase the gap between the concave and the drum and reduce the speed to 600 per minute. This avoids crushing the grain, which is larger in size than wheat.

Forage varieties are harvested during the ear formation phase.

Crop rotation

If winter wheat is more demanding of predecessors, then triticale does not have this feature. Clean, busy or green manure fallow, early potatoes, legumes, annual and perennial grasses can be considered the best for it. In addition, the culture is an excellent precursor for other plants.

Economic importance

As a wheat-rye hybrid, today triticale has been elevated to the rank of a crop with wide possibilities. And this is not surprising, because in most respects it surpasses both parents.

The plant is actively used as feed because, in comparison with other cereals, it has an improved amino acid composition and a large amount of protein - from 10 to 19%. Moreover, it contains 2.32–3.42 g of lysine per 16 g of nitrogen. This is a serious competitor to sorghum, corn, barley and wheat, which contain no more than 15% protein and an average of 2.96 g of lysine per 16 g of nitrogen. In addition, triticale adapts well to various soils. It can also grow on acidic soils.

The hybrid is also used for harvesting haylage and flattened grain. New technologies make it possible to obtain nutritious feed with almost ripe grain and juicy stems.

It is also an excellent raw material for producing alcohol, starch and flour. For example, in Belarus, triticale is actively used in fermentation production. The amount of starch in the plant can reach 74%. Moreover, to obtain 1 ton of the substance you will need 1.8 tons of hybrid, while for potatoes it is 7 tons, rye - 2 tons, and wheat - 2.3 tons.

Baking flour from triticale has a high nutritional value, which makes it possible to bake therapeutic, preventive and dietary bread. And in terms of quality, it will occupy an intermediate position between rye and wheat.

Prospects for breeding

Triticale planting areas around the world are expanding every year. The total area currently exceeds 5 million hectares. The largest producers include Poland, Belarus, Germany and France. In Russia, this segment is still in the development stage, and the largest harvest was collected in the Belgorod Region and amounted to 50.2 c/ha.

In many ways, it is thanks to the work of breeders that it becomes possible to increase triticale crops. Today, they are actively working on this crop at the Krasnodar and Don Zonal Research Institute of Agriculture, Research Institute of Agriculture of Central Districts of Non-Black-Earth Zones, Research Institute of Agriculture of the Central Black-Earth Band, Stavropol Research Institute of Agriculture. Here they are trying to develop mid-season, high-yielding grain-forage varieties that will be even more resistant to lodging, grain germination in the ear and diseases. And there are already successes - the recently developed variety of triticale “bilinda” fully meets these requirements.