Salt-tolerant Triticale (X Triticosecale Witt) Cultivation in Jordan as a New Forage Crop

The impact of climate change and global warming on food and feed crops production is reported in Jordan; a country where dry areas constitute about 90% of its land. The remaining arable areas (under rain fed or irrigated farming system) are decreasing due to urbanization, land fragmentation, drought, water scarcity, underground water over pumping and salinity. There is an urgent need for more tolerant crops that are capable to stand and cope with adverse climatic conditions and for diversification of crops in the farming systems.

The purpose of this work was to introduce a new forage crop suitable for small holders suffering from soil and, or water salinity. Triticale (X Triticosecale Witt) lines were evaluated for salt (soil and water) tolerance at Al-Khaledeya station and the most promising line was introduced to farmers' fields. Two-year field observations were conducted to study the effect of crop genotype on total yield. Two crops (triticale "Syria-1" cultivar, and barley "ACSAD 176" cultivar) were used in these trials, seeds from different crops were planted in both growing seasons of 2011-2012, and 2013-2014 at Azraq saline region (16.7 dS/m, and 2.1 dS/m in soil and water, respectively) field, and at Hashmyahh treated waste water region (3.17 dS/m, and 1.98 dS/m in soil and water, respectively). The grain and straw yield were compared with barley in the same region. Grain and straw chemical traits were evaluated in the laboratory by measuring Protein, fibers, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) percentages for the cultivated triticale in both regions of one season 2011 - 2012. Results indicated that triticale had positive effect on total yield in the salty region, triticale grains neutral detergent fiber percentage was 64.42% and was higher than that of triticale grains under treated waste water. In addition, acid detergent fiber percentage in the grains of the triticale was 12.54% and was lower than acid detergent fiber percentage (21.02%) of triticale grains grown under treated waste water. Triticale was adopted as a new forage crop by the farmers and its cultivation was disseminated in the salty regions. The total cultivated area to triticale in 2011 – 2015 expanded up to 46.6 ha, and this crop became commercialized and part of the seed production market in Jordan.