ABSTRACT
In its 140 years of written history, triticale advanced from a botanical curiosity to an established crop; quite competitive with other cereals, especially under more demanding growing conditions. This advancement was not straight and simple; at times too much promise lead to quick disappointments and triticale faded from view for a while. Yet, triticale breeders worked quietly to solve all major issues of such a new crop and made it competitive. This is an impressive achievement when taking into account that all major cereals were domesticated some 10000 years ago and have undergone thousands more rounds of selection to make them more suitable for agriculture. Given the current rate of improvement, triticale may well have all its future still ahead. This chapter reviews some major points in triticale history, as well as some aspects of its genetics, breeding and usage.
