The tritordeum breeding programme is a core effort of the company. Its goal is to exploit the great genetic diversity present in tritordeum germplasm to produce varieties which combine good agronomic performance with valuable functional food characters and which suit a range of product applications.

Within the breeding programme we have a group of elite lines, a population of advanced breeding lines and the collection of primary germplasm.

Elite Lines have been selected for good agronomic performance and for functional traits such as high lutein or high soluble fibre. They are under evaluation for a range of food applications, by Agrasys and collaborators. From these evaluations, the lines best suited for registration as varieties are being selected. The first tritordeum variety, JB1, entered the registration process in 2008.

Advanced Breeding Lines have been developed from crosses between primary tritordeum lines with a wide range of characteristics. They are being selected for good agronomic performance and for primary seed quality traits (protein, starch, rheology). In addition, they are being screened for a series of phytoactive components and functional molecules.

The Collection of Primary Germplasm derived from more than 250 different combinations of durum wheat and Hordeum chilense parents, offers genetic diversity for many characters of functional and nutritional value. It provides a resource for the development of future lines as it is “mined” for traits of interest.

Analysis of Phytoactive Components and Functional Molecules Central to the breeding programme is the analysis of a range of phytoactive and functional compounds. The molecules which are being selected for include a range of active components such as soluble fibre, carotenoids, phenolics, tocols and tocoferols, etc , which are increasingly recognized as being implicated in the health functionality of cereals.