Woomera triticale to hit shelves ahead of seeding

Bred by Kath Cooper and Mike Elleway in Sherlock, Woomera started as an observation of an interesting plant 15 years ago and will now be available for sowing this year.

The variety is a later-maturing sister line to Razoo which was released by the duo in 2022, which has a reduced-awn head type, with a low degree of tip awning and soft-feel heads which makes it attractive for forage conservation and palatability according to Dr Cooper.

With a background of more than 20 years as a research fellow at Adelaide University, Dr Cooper said there was a demand for a variety like Woomera but it was just a matter of the correct breeding.

"All the varieties I had done while I was at the university were fully awned and spiky, but people like to use triticale a lot for hay, forage, silage, and they prefer not to have a spiky awns," she said.

"I eventually saw a plant that I just liked the look of and had lower awns, but it took probably 10 years of picking out the few plants that came up from each generation.

"It wasn't too tall, it had a nice grain, and it was able to survive drought on our farm so that's really what made me go on with it."

Dr Cooper said the grain type of Woomera was very good and dense, close to wheat in test weight, and it made a good loaf of bread with the duo enjoying the taste and texture of bread and cakes made with wholemeal triticale.

"The Woomera had very good straw and the crop stood up very well to the rather windy conditions, without the head loss of neighbouring farmers' barley crops," she said.

"We were happy with the approx 2.3t/ha, (which was) the same as Scepter wheat which was sown on the better soils, and harvested earlier.

"We were able to produce 50 tonnes of the grain from 20 hectares of land, which allowed the seed to released to market this year.

"We've had a few people from longer season areas who have said they want to buy some seed but they haven't specifically ordered Woomera yet as it's only just been cleaned and tested by Limestone Coast Seeds a few weeks ago."

Dr Cooper said the variety would be best suited to higher rainfall zones, but it was hardy enough to survive in tougher conditions.

"I think 400mm and above would be the ideal rainfall zone for the variety, but that is definitely not our farm and it did survive so we know it's a hardy variety," she said.

"A vegetable growing advisor who tested it said it was also good under irrigation for vegetable production for nurse crop for lettuces to reduce the temperature of the soil in summer growing conditions.

"Triticale varieties seem a lot more tolerant of herbicides than the other cereals, so it can also fit into a program for weed control."

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After years of dedication to the variety, Dr Cooper said she was excited to see the seed released to the public this year.

"Other cereals have billions of dollars of research put into them, but triticale doesn't have that so it's really up to people passionate enough about the grain to develop it each year," she said.

"Farmers are still really interested in triticale and there's demand out there, it's just not being prioritised, so to do this off our own backs with minimal support is tough but we have a sense of pride knowing we've made it and our hard work is paying off.

"We're still hopeful there can be more support for triticale, but for now we'll keep going on our own."

The seed is available directly from Dr Cooper and Mr Elleway.