T R I T I C A L E
H e l
p s F a r m e r s D i v e r s i f y
Triticale, the result of a researcher-made cross between wheat and rye, is not widely sown, or even widely known, though it has been around since the 19th century, and CIMMYT has worked on it for more than 30 years. Originally promoted as a new grain for human consumption, triticale has made little headway against more established crops. Livestock are happy to change their eating habits, however, and triticale is coming into its own for its adaptability as a feed and forage crop in difficult growing environments.
Is This Unusual Crop Coming into its Own?
Triticale is excellent in baked goods and flat breads, but its present appeal is that it gives farmers numerous options for feeding dairy and beef cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry. Since triticale is tolerant to drought, frost, and problem soils, it can be grown in seasons and places where other crops will not grow so well, sometimes making it the only source of animal feed. In such adverse conditions, triticale yields more biomass (stems and leaves) and also more grain than competing crops.
A good source of protein and energy, triticale is sown on more than 3 million hectares worldwide. As scientists and farmers discover its versatility, it is gaining ground in several countries, including Mexico, Poland, China, Belarus, Germany, and Australia. Despite these advances, the crop could be better known in other countries where farmers would benefit greatly from it.
Diversifying the Menu and the Farming System
CIMMYT has developed different types of triticale for different uses. Grazing varieties produce a lot of biomass and can sprout several times after being grazed by livestock.* Other varieties can be cut for forage, left to grow again, and go on to produce grain. Still others produce highly nutritious grain for animal feed. Dual-purpose triticales can be grazed and/or grown for feed and forage, particularly in environments with relatively long periods during which few other sources of animal feed are available.
These special-purpose varieties are gaining acceptance. For example, a group of farmers in Mexico’s Yaqui Valley is enthusiastic about growing triticale instead of durum wheat for feeding pigs. They will sow more land to triticale next season. This strategy will also diversify their farming system, which is 80% wheat. This preponderance of wheat places the wheat crop at high risk for diseases such as the rusts. More rust resistant than wheat, triticale also competes better with weeds. Farmers do not have to spend money controlling weeds and rust.
Dairy farmers in Cuatro Ciénegas, Coahuila, Mexico, have implemented a novel system for grazing young milk cows. In a large, round triticale field, a structure is set up that divides the field into segments like a pie and keeps the cows grazing in one section at a time. The structure is advanced as the crop is grazed. The system relies on a triticale variety bred especially for grazing. The cows graze the entire field, section by section, four or five times over a six-month period, and the crop persistently comes back up after being grazed.
In the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, farmers grow oats for winter forage, but the crop is sometimes damaged by frost. In view of its cold tolerance, triticale is being tested as an alternative to oats by the CIRENA research group (a training, research, and extension organization of Mexico’s Ministry of Education), with CIMMYT’s help. CIRENA is also active in another part of the state, where Mennonite farmers grow oats for forage in the summer. Researchers are trying triticale to see how it fares in such droughty conditions. Results so far have been excellent: triticale produces 100% more biomass than oats and—an unexpected advantage—on less water. Farmers can feed their livestock and cope with the dwindling water supply.
Meeting Local Needs
CIMMYT has bred triticales useful to national research programs in low-income countries seeking to adapt triticale to local conditions. In Bangladesh, for example, dairy farmers sow triticale for grain to feed their milk cows: it produces more grain than wheat in places where water is scarce. In the Ecuadorian highlands, where the climate is particularly harsh and barley is the leading food cereal, triticale is sown mostly by small-scale farmers looking to broaden the options for feeding their families.
*Triticale sprouts again because livestock are put to graze on it when the plant’s growing point is still below the soil surface.
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For more information: Karim Ammar (k.ammar@cgiar.org) Ivan Ortiz-Monasterio (i.ortiz-monasterio@cgiar.org) |
August, 2004