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Triticale: what kind of culture is it and what is its peculiarity

Triticale: what kind of culture is it and what is its peculiarity

28 / 08 / 2021

Many who hear about triticale raise their eyebrows in surprise - what kind of culture is this? In fact, this cereal has long been known to farmers. It is a hybrid of two other cereal plants - rye and wheat, bred in laboratory conditions. The name is also not accidental, it is formed from the Latin designation for "parents" - TRITIcum (translated as "wheat"), and the second part - from seCALE (meaning "rye").

Content:

Introduction. What is triticale?
A brief history of breeding.
Benefits of a cereal crop.
Disadvantages.
Features of agricultural technology.
Application in animal husbandry.

Many who hear about triticale raise their eyebrows in surprise - what kind of culture is this? In fact, this cereal has long been known to farmers. It is a hybrid of two other cereal plants - rye and wheat, bred in laboratory conditions. The name is also not accidental, it is formed from the Latin designation for "parents" - TRITIcum (translated as "wheat"), and the second part - from seCALE (meaning "rye").

Like its predecessor crops, the new cereal differs into winter and spring, grain, grain and fodder.

A brief history of breeding

Scientists have tried to cross wheat with rye since the 19th century. But for many years it has not been possible to obtain a stable result. The reason is the absolute lack of kinship among the chromosomes.

The use of conventional crossing methods resulted in the new culture being sterile. Only in the 19th century. (in 1888) the German V. Rimpau achieved the desired effect. The breakthrough happened by accident - a scientist accidentally doubled chromosomes.

After the discovery, triticale began to be cultivated in Canada, the United States and some European countries. Culture came to our fields at the end of the XX century. However, it did not really take root. You can understand the reason for this phenomenon by studying the advantages of this cereal plant and its disadvantages.

Benefits of culture

There are many advantages of triticale, some of them are surprising in comparison with more familiar cereals. So, the advantages include:

High productivity. Triticale gives up to 6 t / ha on average, while its closest "congeners" - rye and wheat - are inferior (2.5–3 and 3.5–4 t / ha, respectively).
High ear density. This is explained by the fact that triticale combines the characteristic features of the "parents" - the multicolored rye and wheat multicolored.
Resistance to fungal and other diseases.
Unpretentiousness to soil and climatic conditions, crop rotation.
Self-pollination.
High percentage of lysine and protein in the grain.
High yield of green mass when grown for feed. The height of triticale can reach 2 m. The culture is used for raising cattle and pigs.
Wide range of applications. Triticale is used both for food (grain varieties for the production of cereals and flour) and for economic purposes for feeding poultry and livestock (fodder and grain varieties of crops).
The benefits of the cereal are really significant, which makes it unclear why it is not popular. An analysis of the cons will help to clarify the situation.

Disadvantages of culture

To make it easier to understand, the cons should be classified into factors that interfere with cultivation and negative properties in the sphere of consumption.

In the first case, there is only one drawback. Despite the unpretentiousness, it is not very convenient to grow a crop because the ears are difficult to thresh. The grain is problematically separated from the chaff. There are no more significant disadvantages, and the culture is very profitable to grow.

Disadvantages in the area of consumption are another matter. The main thing to know is that triticale is a GMO product. True, there is still no reliable information about the effect of plant flour on a living organism. Therefore, it is unclear whether, in principle, triticale can be used in food for humans, and even more so for children. However, it is also unclear how this food affects animals, but this cereal is superior in nutritional value to other crops.

If we mention the popular varieties in agricultural, then among winter crops these are:

Zenit Odessa;
"Amphidiploid" 15, 42 and 52;
"Kievskoe Early";
ADM-4, 5, 8 and 11, etc.

Spring varieties are presented in a smaller variety: "Krupilsky" and another one from Kharkov breeders - "Aist Kharkovsky". It should be noted that spring crop varieties are always fodder.

Interesting: even though triticale is a hybrid, it can self-pollinate. That is, you do not have to buy new seed every season, for sowing you can use the grain of the previous harvest.

Features of agricultural technology

In terms of the specifics of growing triticale, it is no different from other cereals, like wheat or rye. But in order for the culture to give an optimal harvest, it is important to know and take into account a number of nuances:

sowing triticale is better on black soil. But also the culture will give birth well on peat and sandy soil;
the best predecessors for it are peas, perennials, corn and early potato varieties;
triticale resistant to frost. It can withstand up to -20 degrees easily, which is why winter crops die to a lesser extent than wheat;
due to the fibrous, medium-deep root system, the plant normally tolerates heavy rainfall and wind;
before sowing, it is recommended to apply 150 kg / ha of nitroammophoska, and in the spring to feed with nitrogen. Organic matter is applied in the amount of 20-25 tons and 35-40 tons per hectare of chernozem and non-chernozem soil, respectively;
The seeding rate varies with the climate. The norm for the Polesie zone is 150-200 kg / ha, for the forest-steppe zone - 200-250, and in the steppe zone - up to 250 kg / ha. When sowing on green fodder, the rate is increased to 300 kg;
the sowing depth of winter species is 5–12 cm (depending on the soil moisture index).

The enzymatic composition of the grain depends on the amount and type of trace elements in the soil. For example, nitrogen contributes to an increase in protein by 1.5-2.5%, and fiber increases by 3-4%.

Application in animal husbandry

Triticale is used both as a grain and in the form of green forage and forage. The culture is suitable for poultry, cattle, pigs.

Due to the late earing time, the green mass of this cereal is used as forage in the period between the collection of winter crops and perennials.

In the course of observations, it turned out that replacing 40% of dry feed with feed triticale, for example, in pigs, gives an increase in live weight up to 20%. For cattle - up to 17.

For poultry, the practical efficacy of triticale has not been confirmed.