Triticale is a hybrid between wheat, Triticum aestivum and Triticum durum, and rye, Secale cereale, in order to combine the advantageous characteristics of both parents, namely the hardiness of rye and the yield of wheat.
Mainly created and developed at the INRAE station in Clermont-Ferrand as part of various European (Eucarpia) and French breeding programs, the first triticale variety to be included in the official catalog dates back to 1983. Most of the collection at CRB comes from Clermont-Ferrand, and to a lesser extent from Versailles.
The triticale collection comprises around 1,400 lines or varieties currently being evaluated. 36 accessions are part of the national collection.
As triticale is a man-made cereal, there are no native varieties. On the other hand, the entire variability of soft wheat and rye is available to produce new “primary” triticales. As a result, only a few recently-created varieties are kept in collections, in addition to the scientific material used to create these primary triticales.