| | Scope and purpose of the study, and organization of the review and report
The scope of this report is described in the agreement between GrainTek and the Alberta government, where GrainTek agreed to conduct a review to be completed no later than March 31, 2001. The Appendix of that agreement describes the scope as follows:
‘The growth potential of triticale in western Canada’
‘Triticale, after nearly 30 years of research, is beginning to find a place in western Canada cropping practices. This crop has potential as forage, feed grain, alcohol production and food uses. Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Field Crop Development Center in Lacombe has been a leader in the development of both winter and spring types of triticale and have partnered with Progressive Seeds Ltd. to market their varieties and to develop market opportunities for triticale. Over the last three years they have concentrated upon the forage potential of the crop. The acreage of triticale sown for all uses has gone from a few thousand acres to an estimated 100,000 acres in the last 3 to 4 years. In order for this growth to continue we must identify the potential for this crop and the existing barriers to reaching this potential. Some of these barriers will be educational in nature but many will be due to the lack of quantifiable research information on the production and utilization of the crop.
...(Therefore)... a comprehensive report will be prepared that will outline the potential for triticale as a crop in western Canada, and that will identify the barriers to reaching this potential. ...(It is expected that)... a set of recommendations will be developed that will guide the department’s and it’s partners in the realization of this crop’s potential’.
Although the focus of this review is on the potential in western Canada, the scope accepted is wider than that, and also includes the international situation for triticale development. Many countries have larger acreage and more diversified market uses than found in Canada (Table 1), and the experience in these markets and in the international breeding and use of triticale is also briefly reviewed in the context of the project objectives. Statistics for Canadian triticale production are presented in Figure 1, but are likely underestimated because of unreported use as forage acreage (sourced from Statistics Canada). Many contacted during this review felt that the Canadian acreage estimates were not very reliable, and several felt it was underestimated by as much as 50%.
This report, although much involved with review of triticale performance and its potential, does not attempt to provide an exhaustive compilation of literature about the crop. This is available, in many cases, from other existing sources. The general structure of the review and report is based on the following general format:
1. A detailed description of the genetic basis (past, current and future) from which improved triticale varieties of the future will be derived. This section also emphasizes the strengths and weaknesses of existing Canadian varieties for various end-uses, and breeding priorities and advances that would be desirable.
2. Canadian experience with triticale is described, drawing on inputs from seed-growers, researchers, scientific literature, feed formulators, producers and end-users. Special meetings, phone interviews and surveys were also conducted for this purpose.
3. For selected applications / end-uses additional review was conducted of Canadian-based research (and other related sources), for feed use, forage use, food use and industrial use. In most cases this also served to highlight the limited local adaptation / end-use work conducted in W. Canada with the new, improved Canadian varieties.
4. Each section of the report concludes with a summary assessment of where the limitations to triticale use in that use sector occur, and sets forth recommendations that could assist with the expansion of triticale crop adoption and use in W. Canada.
Table 1. Triticale Production (Area in Hectares) in 1986, 1991-1992, 1995,1997-1998 and 2000
| Country | 1986 | 1991-1992 | 1995 | 1997-1998 | 1997/98
Type |  | 2000 |
| Algeria | - | 10,000 | - | 10,000 | 1,2 | S | - |
| Argentina | 10,000 | 16,000 | - | - | 1 | S | - |
| Australia | 160,000 | 100,000 | 221,097 | 245,000 | 1,2 | S | 286,000 |
| Austria | 1,000 | 2,000 | 19,279 | - | 1 | W | 27,500 |
| Belarus | - | - | 38,000 | 73,200 | 2,3 | W | 65,000 |
| Belgium (+ Luxembourg 1995,2000) | 5,000 | 10,000 | 12,300 | 9,000 | 1,2 | S | 11,600 |
| Brazil | 5,000 | 90,000 | - | 100,000 | 1 | S | - |
| Bulgaria | 10,000 | 100,000 | - | 5,000 | 2W | - | |
| Canada | 6,500 | 2,000 | - | 34,000 | 2,1 | S,W | 63,842 |
| Chile | 5,000 | 10,000 | - | - | 1 | S | - |
| China, NE/Heilongjiang (*All China) | 25,000 | 1,500 | 690,000* | 41,000 | 1,2 | S,W | 700,000 |
| Fed. Republic of Czechoslovakia | - | 25,000 | 16,219 | - | 1 | - | 37,168 |
| France | 300,000 | 162,000 | 183,500 | 165,000 | 1,2 | S,W | 233,000 |
| Germany | 30,000 | 207,000 | 288,600 | 436,000 | 1,2 | W | 499,499 |
| Hungary | 5,000 | 5,000 | 64,000 | - | - | W | 91,000 |
| India | 500 | - | - | - | - | S | - |
| Italy | 15,000 | 30,000 | - | - | - | S | - |
| Kenya | - | 8,000 | - | - | - | S | - |
| Latvia | - | - | 2,700 | 2,000 | 2,3,4 | W | 6,400 |
| Lithuania | - | - | 22,500 | - | - | - | 32,000 |
| Luxembourg | 400 | 2,000 | - | - | - | W | - |
| Mexico | 8,000 | 3,000 | - | 6,000 | 1,2 | S | 144(?) |
| Morocco | - | 10,000 | - | 17,000 | 3,1 | | - |
| Netherlands | 1,000 | 4,000 | 2,600 | - | - | W | 6,600 |
| New Zealand | - | 2,000 | - | - | - | S,W | - |
| Poland | 100,000 | 659,300 | 616,443 | 736,000 | 1,2 | W | 600,000 |
| Portugal | 7,000 | 90,000 | 44,126 | 48,000 | 3,4 | S | 26,000 |
| Romania | - | 20,000 | - | 25,000 | 2 | - | - |
| Slovakia | - | - | 7,683 | - | - | - | 8,700 |
| South Africa | 15,000 | 95,000 | - | 60,000 | 1,2 | S,W | - |
| Former USSR | 250,000 | 500,000 | - | 500,000 | 1,2 | W | - |
| Spain | 30,000 | 80,000 | - | 34,000 | 3 | S | - |
| Sweden | - | 1,000 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Switzerland | 5,000 | 11,000 | 5,350 | - | - | W | 9,000 |
| Tanzania | 400 | - | - | - | - | S | - |
| Tunisia | 5,000 | 16,000 | - | - | - | S | - |
| UK | 16,000 | 16,000 | 7,000 | 6,000 | 1,2 | W | 9,000 |
| Uruguay | - | - | - | 4,000 | 1,2 | - | - |
| USA | 60,000 | 180,000 | - | 350,000 | 2,1 | S,W | - |
| Total | 1,075,800 | 2,467,800 | N/A | 2,906,200 | | | N/A |
| - = No data; 1= Feed; 2=Fodder; 3=Food; 4=Industrial; S =Spring type; W = Winter |
(Sources: Guedes-Pinto, H., Darvey, N., and Carnide, V. P. Eds., 1996 Triticale: Today and Tomorrow. P17, from W. H. Pfeiffer, CIMMYT, Dev. in Plant Breeding, Kluwer, 1996; and Juskiw, P., Ed., 1998. Proc. 4th Int. Triticale Symposium, July 26-31, 1998, Red Deer, Alberta, Canada p.xiii); FAO data for 1995 and 2000 from www.fao.org; Canada 2000 data from Statistics Canada)
Total world hectarage 3,902,353 ha (Calculated from sum of most recent estimate for each country)
Figure 1. 1991- 2000 Triticale acreage and yields (Source: Statistics Canada, February 2001)
Report prepared March 2001 |
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