Chromosome composition of hexaploid triticale

The chromosome complements of approximately 50 lines of hexaploid triticale and triticale wheat intercross lines were investigated by means of a Giemsa technique which makes it possible to distinguish between rye and wheat chromosomes. The number of rye chromosome pairs present in different lines varies from one to seven. This shows that the third genome of triticales can represent a wide range of combinations of rye- and D-genome chromosomes. Most of the advanced lines with good agronomic characters have a mixed chromosome composition.