Triticale

Have you ever eaten triticale bread? Probably not. Because although triticale has similar properties to wheat and rye, it is mainly used as a feed grain.

The progeny of rye and wheat

Triticale is a cross between female wheat (Triticum) and male rye pollen (Secale), which combines the undemanding nature of rye with the quality of wheat. It is therefore a hybrid cereal. The somewhat unusual name of the cereal comes from the botanical names of its parent plants (Triticum and Secale = triticale). Like all cereals, triticale is a sweet grass. The appearance is similar to the parent plants and depends on the variety, sometimes triticale has more similarities with wheat, sometimes with rye. It reaches heights of 70 to 120 cm and has upright, robust stalks.

A newcomer among the cereals

In agricultural terms, triticale is a young crop. It was not until the end of the 19th century that triticale was successfully bred from a cross between rye and wheat. Initially, this hybrid cereal was much discussed as it was considered a ‘laboratory plant’ – a cross between two different species from different genera practically never occurs in nature. It took over fifty years before it became a successful crop. It took the discovery that the chromosome sets of the triticale could be doubled with the help of colchicine, an alkaloid of the autumn crocus. This resulted in a fertile plant and breeding on a larger scale became possible. With just under 60 years of breeding, triticale is still in its infancy compared to 10,000 years of wheat breeding. The aim of the breeding trials was to breed a type of grain that is more resistant than wheat in order to achieve good yields with high-quality ingredients, even at high altitudes and in trickier locations. The breeders have succeeded in this. The cultivation of triticale was massively promoted, particularly in the 1960s/70s in Poland, the Soviet Union and also in Canada – as part of agricultural self-sufficiency strategies. Today, the main cultivation areas are in Poland, Belarus, France and Germany and thus in cooler temperate climate zones, where the cultivation of the more demanding wheat is more difficult.

Triticale – mainly animal feed

Triticale plays a particularly important role in animal feed. While it is specifically used in pig and cattle feed due to its good protein content and energy density, poultry can only tolerate small amounts of triticale in their feed as it contains ingredients that are difficult to digest. Theoretically, triticale can also be used to bake bread. However, it is rare to find triticale bread in the stores – true to the motto: what the farmer doesn’t know, he doesn’t eat.

Sources

gzpk: Triticale. Link.
Bioaktuell.ch: Triticale – a young cereal with a future. Link.
Oekolandbau.de: Growing triticale organically. Link.