Agronomical and morphological differentiation among winter and spring triticales

A collection of 299 secondary hexaploid triticale cultivars and advanced breeding lines from 18 countries, which were considered a representative sample of the existing diversity, was evaluated for morphological and agronomical characters with autumn planting at Lleida, Spain, from 1988 to 1991. The entries were classified as having winter (84) or spring (215) growth habit and among this latter group were complete (73) or substituted (147) types according to CIMMYT's terminology. Winter and spring triticales were grouped by cluster and principal component analyses. Winter triticales were taller with longer growth cycles, longer spikes, and more spikelets per spike than spring types. At early stages they also had prostrate growth. Spring-substituted types were separated from complete material. As a group, spring-substituted triticales differed more from winter types than the spring complete genotypes, which showed intermediate characteristics. Complete types of spring habit had tendency to be taller, with longer spikes, more spikelets per spike and bigger and heavier grains than substituted triticales. Greater variation in morphological and agronomical parameters was detected among winter triticales followed by the complete-spring group.