Rye and Triticale Breeding in the South1
Rye
Rye is an excellent temporary winter forage crop widely used by livestock producers. It is also the most dependable cereal species for winter grazing. Rye has greater cold tolerance, quicker growth at low temperatures, and more uniform seasonal forage production in comparison to wheat, oats, barley or triticale (Bruckner and Raymer, 1990). Rye is a relatively poor grain producer and the grain is not used as extensively as the other cereals. The use of rye in the South is primarily as a forage crop, but it is also planted as a windbreak for vegetable production and as a cover crop. Rye is not as well-suited as a hay or silage crop because it has a tendency to have a low leaf-to-stem ratio after jointing. It is poorer in quality than oats, wheat, or triticale. Rye does have the desirable features of an extensive fibrous root system and good adaptation to acid, sandy soils. It generally sustains less damage from fungal leaf diseases than the other small grains, and is highly resistant to Hessian fly (Buntin and Chapin, 1990).
Rye has not received much attention from small grain breeders in the South in recent years. The fact that it is a forage crop, is an obligate cross-pollinated species (Morey and Barnett, 1980), grows tall and rank, and is a poor seed producer, have contributed to the lack of attention it has received from plant improvement programs. Two of the more recent new varieties are: Bates, developed by the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Inc. and jointly released with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in 1995, and Wrens 96, released by the Georgia and Florida Experiment Stations in 1996 (Bruckner et al. 1999). Both are productive varieties well-adapted to the southeastern U.S.
The most active rye-breeding program in the southeastern United States is the extensive program being conducted by the joint Georgia-Florida breeding program. There is also a continuing small effort by the Noble Foundation in Oklahoma.
Triticale
Triticale has considerable grain and forage potential, for the southeastern U.S. Triticale has not been included in the government price support programs and, as a feed grain, has faced stiff competition from low-priced corn. Livestock producers have found it much easier to purchase cheap corn than resort to the effort of growing triticale.
Triticale has been used as a winter grazing crop, a feed grain among swine producers, and as a silage crop among dairy producers. The most active breeding programs are the Georgia and Florida program, North Carolina State University, Texas A&M University, and the private breeding program conducted by Resource Seeds, Inc. in California. Triticale lines that are most adapted to the southeastern United States were developed by crossing durum wheat with adapted cultivars of spring rye. The resulting triticale does not possess the grain, milling and flour characteristics of common bread wheat, and has not been widely grown for human food, only for animal use.
Triticale is an excellent energy source and has a better amino acid profile than corn, wheat, and sorghum. Therefore, triticale has potential as a superior energy source and protein supplement in animal rations. It has been used to some extent by livestock producers, and has been particularly popular with swine producers. Since the early 1970s, University of Florida has conducted a triticale-breeding program. Three spring-type cultivars that were selected from the CIMMYT nurseries have been released (Barnett et al., 1999). Beagle 82 was released by the University of Florida in 1982. Sunland and Florida 201 resulted from the efforts of the University of Florida and University of Georgia programs. Considerable improvement in increasing grain yield and test weight has been made. The protein content of the three released cultivars is about 12% with 0.45% lysine on a dry matter basis. A number of feeding trials with both swine and poultry have been conducted. The trials have shown that triticale can replace corn in diets with little effect on swine and poultry performance (Myer et al., 1990; Ruiz et al., 1987).
Triticale also has considerable potential as a forage crop, but the spring types developed up to this time are unsatisfactory for use in winter grazing programs. Cultivars developed for forage production must exhibit more cold tolerance, Hessian fly resistance, and the capacity for rapid regrowth after grazing. Awnless types, which are relatively rare in the triticale germplasm, would be more desirable in a forage cultivar. Progress has been made in selecting types with improved disease and insect resistance. Triticale cultivars, Florida 201 and Sunland, released from the Florida-Georgia program, are resistant to the L biotype of Hessian fly (Martens et al., 1995). Two newer releases, Trical 342 and Monarch, were released from the Florida-Georgia program and seed of both are available on the market. With increased efforts on the part of plant breeders at the Universities of Georgia and Florida, better forage and grain types of triticale will be developed for the southeastern U.S.
Literature Cited
Barnett, R. D., A. R. Blount, and P. L. Pfahler. 1999. Benefits of the UF/IFAS small grain breeding program to Florida and the southeastern United States. Soil Crop Sci. Soc. Florida Proc. 58:20-23.
Buntin, G. D., and J. W. Chapin. 1990. Biology of Hessian fly (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) in the southeastern United States: Geographic variation and temperature-dependent phenology. J. Econ. Entomol. 83:1015-1024.4
Bruckner, P. L, J. W. Johnson, G. W. Burton, R. N. Gates, R. D. Barnett. 1999. Registration of Wrens 96 rye. Crop Sci. 39:287-287.
Bruckner, P. L. and P. L. Raymer. 1990. Factors influencing species and cultivar choice of small grains for winter forage. J. Prod. Agric. 3:349-355.
Martens, R. J., R. D. Barnett, R. H. Ratcliffe, and A. R. Soffes-Blount. 1995. Resistance of triticale (X Triticosecale, Wittmark) to Hessian fly (Mayetiola destructor Say) biotypes C, E, and L. pp 11-14. Southern Small Grain Workers Conf., North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC.
Myer, R. O., G. E. Combs, and R. D. Barnett. 1990. Evaluation of three triticale cultivars as potential feed grains for swine. Proc. Soil Crop Sci. Soc. Fla. 49:155-158.
Morey, D. D. and R. D. Barnett. 1980. Rye. A chapter in “Hybridization of Crop Plants”. Walter R. Fehr and Henry H. Hadley, eds. American Society of Agronomy-Crop Science Society of America, Madison, WI. pp 523-534.
Ruiz, N., J. E. Marion, R. D. Miles, and R. D. Barnett. 1987. Nutritive value of new cultivars of triticale and wheat for broiler chick diets. Poultry Sci. 66:90-97.
Footnotes
This document is SS-AGR-42, one of a series of the Agronomy Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. First published May 2002. Revised March 2006. Please visit the EDIS Web site at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.
R.D. Barnett, professor of Agronomy, NFREC, Quincy; A.R. Blount, assistant professor of Agronomy, NFREC, Marianna; P.L. Pfahler, professor of Agronomy, Agronomy Department, Gainesville, IFAS, University of Florida; J.W. Johnson, professor of Agronomy, Georgia Station, Griffin, University of Georgia; G.D. Buntin, professor of Entomology, Georgia Station, Griffin, University of Georgia; and B. M. Cunfer, professor of Plant Pathology, Georgia Station, Griffin, University of Georgia.
The use of trade names in this publication is solely for the purpose of providing specific information. UF/IFAS does not guarantee or warranty the products named, and references to them in this publication does not signify our approval to the exclusion of other products of suitable composition.
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