COPE, S.C. - Star Trek fans may remember the episode titled “The Trouble with Tribbles” in which Sherman’s Planet was a farming colony that had been devastated by a wheat blight. The people were starving, and Capt. Kirk was charged with delivering a new type of wheat/rye blend (quatro-triticale) to the planet because it was resistant to the blight. Now it seems that science is imitating art on a farm in the Cope/Norway area.

Resource Seeds Inc. of Gilroy, Calif., has been researching and developing triticale for about 30 years. William A. “Bill” Smith of the company has been conducting the research on the East Coast for 25 years, and John Cuttino Sr. of Cope has been maintaining the seed plots in the Cope/Norway area for more than a dozen years.

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Two years ago, Cuttino’s son, John Jr., won the S.C. State Science Fair with a project on the germination of triticale seeds. Prior to that, John Jr. won state recognition for his Food and Cover Establishment for Wildface Project sponsored by the Clemson Extension Service 4-H Club Program. In fact, while reviewing the young man’s F.A.C.E. plot, a wildlife biologist was surprised to discover coveys of quail. John Jr.’s father credited the quail’s presence to the fact that he had planted triticale next to the F.A.C.E. plot.

“Triticale is a good blend,” Cuttino Sr. said. “It grows well in many types of soil and has a high nutritional content. Animals that must forage for food reap the benefits of this crop. Triticale seems to attract animals and provides exceptional nourishment so that they prosper. All in all, triticale is a good addition to anyone’s land stewardship program.”

Triticale is a combination of wheat and rye. It combines the grain and forage aspects of both parent species. As a grain, it is an excellent feed, Cuttino said, and it is also a tasty, rather sweet, healthful food grain. As a forage, it provides nutritious silage and hay and is a double-crop complement to corn, sorghum, etc., he said.

Offering a high yield with a superior tolerance to drought and low pH, it is also disease resistant, the farmer said.

“Research on this product is continuing,” Bill Smith of Resource Seeds Inc. said. “But all the tests are promising. It is an excellent crop. Right now, we have 1,240 test plots of various seed types of triticale. We have cut about 860 using a small combine made in Germany.” Smith said Cuttino works with him to manage the plots and Cuttino’s son helps him weigh and bag the samples that he sends back to California.

“Each plot is 5 feet by 10 feet, and we test the results of each plot for yield and seed quality. It is interesting work, although the weather plays a large part in the comfort of it,” Smith said.

“Sometimes you are planting in the snow and harvesting in 100 degrees.”

Additional information about triticale is available at www.resourceseeds.com.

T&D Correspondent Sherryl Peters can be reached by e-mail at boykinbaby@surrealestate.com. Visit this story online to view a special video interview with John Cuttino Sr. about his triticale experience.

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