Seed yield and nutritional value evaluation of different types of Triticale in theNingxia Yellow River irrigation area

Screening suitable × Triticale Wittmack varieties is an important basis for high-quality development of animal husbandry in the Ningxia Yellow River irrigation area. In this study, the main agronomic traits, seed yield, and nutritional quality of different triticale were measured, and 10 triticale varieties were evaluated in detail using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The results showed that the highest plant height of ‘Jisicao 3’ was 171.17 cm, and there was no significant difference between ‘Jian 46’ ‘Jian 12’ and ‘Jinsicao 1’ (P > 0.05). The number of nodes in ‘Jian 46’ was 5.33 at most. ‘Jinsicao 1’ had the highest spike length, spike weight, spikelets number, thousand grain weight, grain weight per spike, and seed yield, which were 14.32 cm, 5.56 g, 31.67, 55.14 g, 4.47 g, and 7 478.95 kg·ha⁻¹, respectively. The crude fat content of triticale grains ranged from 2.77% to 3.82%, and the crude protein content of grains ranged from 12.31% to 13.63%. Among these, ‘Jisicao 1’ had the highest crude protein content and crude fat content, which were 13.63% and 3.82%, respectively. For the nutritional quality of triticale forage, the crude protein content of ‘Puri’ was the highest (9.31%), the crude fat content of ‘Jinsicao 1’ was the highest (1.43%), and the crude ash content of ‘Youneng’ was the highest (7.46%). The neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber contents of ‘Gannong 2’ were the lowest, which were 57.07% and 31.16%, respectively. According to PCA, ‘Jinsicao 1’ had the highest comprehensive score and was more suitable for planting in the irrigated area of Ningxia Yellow River irrigation area compared with other varieties.