Editing Triticale (section)

== History ==
{{More citations needed section|date=June 2021}}
[[File:Wheat, rye, triticale montage.jpg|280px|right|thumb|[[Wheat]], [[rye]], triticale|alt=The smaller grain of [[wheat]] on the left, larger kernels of [[rye]] next, and triticale on the right — triticale [[grain]] is significantly larger than wheat.]]

In the 19th century, crossing cultivars or species became better understood, allowing the controlled hybridization of more plants and animals. In 1873, Alexander Wilson first managed to manually fertilize the female organs of wheat flowers<ref>{{cite web|url=http://triticale.org/triticale-history/ |title=Triticale history|publisher=International Triticale Association, Ghent University, Belgium|date=2023 }}</ref> with rye pollen (male gametes), but found that the resulting plants were sterile, much the way the offspring of a [[horse]] and [[donkey]] is an infertile [[mule]]. Fifteen years later in 1888, a partially-fertile hybrid was produced by {{ill|Wilhelm Rimpau|de|Wilhelm Rimpau (Agrarwissenschaftler)|vertical-align=sup}}, "Tritosecale Rimpaui Wittmack". Such hybrids germinate only when the chromosomes spontaneously [[doubled haploidy|double]].

Unfortunately, "partially fertile" was all that was produced until 1937. In that year, it was discovered that the chemical [[colchicine]], which is used both for general plant germination and as a treatment for [[gout]], would force chromosome doubling by keeping them from pulling apart during cell division.<ref>[https://www.carnivorousplants.org/grow/propagation/ColchicineToxicity Colchicine Treatment and Toxicity | ICPS]</ref> Triticale had become viable, though at that point the cost of producing the seeds was disproportionate to the yield.

By the 1960s, triticale was being produced that was far more nutritious than normal wheat. However, it was a poorly-producing crop, sometimes yielding shriveled kernels, germinating poorly or prematurely, and did not bake well.

Modern triticale has overcome most of these problems, after decades of additional breeding and gene transfer with wheat and rye. Millions of acres/hectares of the crop are grown around the world, slowly increasing toward becoming a significant source of food-calories.