Establishing improved Triticale (x Triticosecale Wittmack) hybrids by hybrid prediction based on genome-wide marker data

The State Plant Breeding Institute has a history in triticale (x Triticosecale Wittmack) breeding and is a leading institute for the establishment of hybrid triticale. Experiments at our institute have shown a heterosis for yield of hybrid triticale of about 10% and suggested an even higher heterosis for biomass yield. As hybrids are also expected to perform better under abiotic stresses, they could perform better in the future, especially with regard to the expected climate change. Thus, hybrid breeding is a promising alternative to line breeding for triticale. The objective of this project is to accelerate hybrid breeding and to identify superior triticale hybrids which have the potential to be registered as lines. To this end, potential hybrid parents will be genotyped with molecular markers. These marker data can then be used to predict hybrid performance and to identify promising parental combinations. These hybrids will in the next step be generated and evaluated in field trials.