TRITORDEUM – A PROMISING GRAIN CROP

The objective of the study is to attract the attention of breeders, agronomists, and food technologists to the newly created species of grain cereal tritordeum. The latter is a hybrid of wild barley (Hordeum chilense Roem. et Schultz.) and durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. subsp. durum Desf.). A brief review of modern literature presents a comprehensive description of this grain crop and provides the results of an analysis of its chemical composition. Based on the results of studying the physiological, biochemical, and consumer properties of this innovative cereal, its increased ability to adapt to extreme environmental conditions and the possibility of successful use of grain in the food industry, in particular in baking bread and producing pasta, are demonstrated. Morphologically and agronomically, tritordeum is similar to wheat, but compared to its predecessor, it has a higher ability to absorb nitrogen from the soil, grows better in hotter and drier conditions, and is characterized by increased drought resistance and water use efficiency. In addition, the grain of the new crop contains significantly more protein, carotenoids, glycine betaine, dietary fiber and mineral elements than soft and hard wheat. Tritordeum protein has a higher digestibility in the human body, which is associated with a lower content of gliadins, which can cause allergies to gluten and provoke celiac disease. Since the new hybrid cereal has high nutritional and functional value, it can be successfully used in the production of food products intended for healthy nutrition of the population. The proposed review of modern scientific literature can serve as a valuable source of information for researchers, agronomists and producers of food products from grain raw materials interested in studying the potential of the new Tritordeum crop.