Triticale

Triticale is a cultivated cereal hybrid of wheat and rye. It combines wheat’s grain qualities with rye’s hardiness and is grown mainly for animal feed and forage.

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Wheat: Wheat is a group of grasses cultivated worldwide for grain used in food and animal feed. It supplies triticale’s grain quality and one half of its parentage.
Wheat–rye hybridization: Wheat–rye hybridization is the crossing of wheat and rye to produce hybrid offspring. This cross is the founding act behind triticale.
Plant breeding: Plant breeding is the deliberate selection and crossing of plants to improve inherited traits. Triticale is developed by selecting and refining wheat–rye crosses.
Animal feed: Animal feed is food supplied to domesticated animals to support growth, health, or production. Triticale grain is used widely in livestock and poultry rations.
Bread wheat: Bread wheat is the hexaploid wheat species widely used to make leavened bread. It generally has stronger established baking quality than triticale grain.
Rye: Rye is a cereal grass cultivated for grain, forage, and cover crops, especially in cool climates. It contributes hardiness and the other half of triticale’s parentage.
Wilhelm Rimpau: Wilhelm Rimpau was a German plant breeder who produced an early fertile wheat–rye hybrid in 1888. His successful hybrid is often cited as the first fertile triticale.
Meiosis: Meiosis is cell division that produces reproductive cells with half the usual chromosome number. Regular chromosome pairing during meiosis supports triticale fertility.
Forage: Forage is plant material eaten by grazing animals or harvested for livestock feed. Triticale can be harvested as green forage or conserved as silage.
Barley: Barley is a cereal grain used for food, animal feed, and malt production. It competes with triticale as a feed grain in some farming systems.