Triticale

Abstract

Research on triticale (X. Triticosecale Wittmack), the product of a cross between wheat and rye, actually began at CIMMYT a year before the Center was formally established in 1966. The program's original objective was to develop a grain crop to complement or surpass other cereals-a formidable challenge, given the problems triticale initially possessed. Plants were generally tall and late maturing, sensitive to daylength, partially sterile, and tended to set shriveled seed. These problems determined the early agenda for triticale improvement. In the years since CIMMYT and other scientists first took up that agenda, significant advances have been made. Difficulties with lodging, floral fertility, poor grain quality, and late maturity have been resolved to a great extent, and now over one million hectares of triticales are grown in 32 countries throughout the world (Table 1, page 21). Triticale still retains some undesirable characteristics, including preharvest sprouting and low test weights in less favorable production environments. However, the crop has increasingly revealed its potential under such special growing conditions as semiarid enVironments, acid soils (for example, Oxisols and Ultisols), and tropical highlands above 1500 m (characterized by volcanic, mostly acidic soils with high phosphorus-fixing capacity). Such environments as these, where grain production can be a difficult or marginal activity, are receiving increasing attention at CIMMYT. While the triticale program continues to seek means of raising yield and improving wide adaptation, seed quality, and quality for milling and baking, a stronger effort is now being made to breed for stress environments and disease resistance. Underlying each facet of the breeding work is an expanded project to broaden triticale's genetic variability. This project, which is one of the highest priorities of the triticale program, is discussed in greater detail on page 15. These objectives reflect a confidence in triticale's potential that has not always existed. Although from its first appearance in the 1870s triticale piqued breeders' curiosity as a botanical oddity, it did not readily capture their imaginations as having the potential to become a commercial crop. This transformation was to come later, accomplished through the efforts of many people who believed that triticale's unusual characteristics were worth exploiting. Some of the details of that process, including CIMMYT's achievements in triticale improvement during the past 20 years, are reviewed here, and the program's present and future goals are discussed.