Usage

Triticale has become an important small grain addition to the agricultural repertoire designed to cope with the needs of many regions of the world for feed, forage, and sustainable cropping systems (Arsenouk 2015).

Triticale grain is suited for human consumption as well as for animal feeding. Although triticale grain is eligible for bread-making and the production of other starch products, it is still not adopted as a food crop due to its unfavourable grain texture and an inferior grain technological baking quality resulting in a high variation in end-use quality. It is necessary to improve its milling and bread-making quality aspects to increase its potential for human consumption (McGoverin et al. 2011; Oettler 2005). However, ongoing research indicates that triticale has the potential for use in human consumption (Martinek et al. 2008).

For animal feeding, however, the crop is widely grown and the grain is of high nutritional value for livestock. Triticale grain is a valuable component of poultry and swine fodder. It contains more protein than rye. Moreover digestibility of triticale grain is higher compared to barley and similar to wheat. Furthermore, the nutritive value of triticale protein has been shown to be greater than wheat protein, thanks to the higher concentrations of the limiting amino acids lysine and threonine. However, it should be pointed out that much variation exists between triticale varieties (Myer and Lozano del Rio 2004; Stallknecht et al. 1996). These properties favor triticale for low input farming systems. The whole plant can also be used as forage when harvested green. Triticale can be grown as a single crop or mixed with legumes (Dordas and Lithourgidis 2011), and used in whole-plant silage or for dual purpose forage/grain (Delogu et al. 2002; Haesaert et al. 2002; McGoverin et al. 2011; Sarker et al. 2006). Furthermore, modern triticale varieties have the capacity to produce high amounts of high quality straw with a high water-holding capacity, perfectly suited as bedding material for cattle (Derycke et al. 2017). Finally, triticale can serve as a source of renewable energy in the production of bioethanol, solid biofuel or biogas (McGoverin et al. 2011).