Bozeman, Montana
March 19, 2002
Phil Bruckner, Montana State
University's winter wheat breeder, says the breeding program
has four objectives:
- developing improved cultivars of winter wheat adapted to
Montana;
- developing production strategies to maximize wheat quality
consistency, which will enhance
wheat marketability;
- investigating environmental, genetic and management
factors that influence wheat productivity
and end-use quality. This includes identifying molecular
markers for wheat stem sawfly resistance and cold tolerance
while minimizing enzymes like polyphenol oxidase that discolor
noodles, all the while maintaining disease resistance and
agronomic performance; and
- coordinating statewide winter wheat variety testing and
providing long-term performance data
necessary for cultivar release decisions, variety
recommendations and producer management
decisions.
Meeting cultivar development objectives over the 2000-2001
season was a challenge, says Bruckner, since winter weather
wiped out the Sidney, Mont. and Williston, ND trials and other
Montana trials were severely impacted by continuing drought. All
test plots except Bozeman and Moccasin were below long-term
moisture averages.
On the other hand, thousands of breeding lines were tested and
survived to go on for further testing, and over 300 crosses were
added to winter wheat breeding material.
The emphases in the 300 crosses were on incorporating sawfly
resistance, high yield potential and white kernel color. All of
the testing sites that survived had below average precipitation,
but generally moderate yields, though the yields ranged from 12
bushels per acre at Conrad to 99 bushels per acre at Bozeman.
Based on high yield potential and excellent end-use quality, a
new hard red winter wheat that will be named "Paul" has been
approved for release as Foundation Seed in 2003. The name honors
Paul Brown, a recently deceased USDA-Agricultural Research
Service soil scientist. "Paul" is a high-yielding, winter-hardy
line targeted toward acreage currently being planted with
Neeley. In addition, five other breeding lines are being
purified for potential release. These experimental lines are
showing good winter hardiness and drought tolerance.
Also in the pipeline are Montana experimental lines that are
resistant to wheat stem sawfly, wheat streak mosaic virus and
Russian wheat aphid. One in the advanced testing stages is
promising for Russian wheat aphid resistance. Another 420 lines
in a more preliminary stage of testing were evaluated in an
observation nursery at Bozeman. Based on agronomic performance,
Russian wheat aphid resistance and end-use quality evaluation,
40 lines will go on for preliminary yield testing, including 12
lines resistant to RWA and six hard white wheat lines.
In addition, breeders evaluated 960 lines for agronomic
potential in observation nurseries at Bozeman, Havre and
Moccasin. Based on their performance and early-generation
quality screening, 72 lines were selected for preliminary yield
testing, including 14 that were hard white wheat selections and
five with resistance to wheat streak mosaic virus.
Breeders observed another 940 solid-stemmed lines in nurseries
at Bozeman, Loma, Molt and Conrad. Of those, breeders selected
35 to move on to preliminary yield testing. Another 30,000
headrows were evaluated at Bozeman and Loma for stem solidness
and agronomic potential. Bruckner selected 2,500 for plot
evaluation for pest and end-use screening in 2002. Primary
objectives of these lines are sawfly resistance, white seed
color, wheat streak mosaic virus resistance, Russian wheat aphid
resistance and imazamox tolerance.
The development of sawfly-resistant cultivars has been enhanced
by continuation of a Montana Wheat and Barley Committee-financed
selection nursery located on the McKeever farm near Loma, where
wheat stem sawfly populations are high. Two lines look
particularly promising: MTS0031 and MTS0023. Each out-yielded
Rampart by over 10 percent, with good test weights and stem
solidness. Both lines will be tested extensively in Montana
during 2002.
Acreage of sawfly-resistant cultivars continues to increase in
Montana, with MSU's Rampart and Vanguard collectively being
planted on about 22 percent of the state's winter wheat acreage
in 2001. Foundation seed of BigSky and NuSky were released to
Montana seed producers. BigSky will provide an excellent
combination of high yield, test weight and grain protein and
NuSky provides a publicly available hard white winter wheat with
excellent agronomic and end use qualities.
In addition, MSU's winter wheat breeding program is looking at
lines tolerant of imazamox for potential proprietary release in
cooperation with BASF. BASF is
helping support development of these lines and will be involved
in any commercialization ventures of these lines. Though this is
a cooperative venture with BASF, a key goal of any venture would
be to have the collaboration benefit Montana's wheat producers.
This year will also mark the final payments on a heavy-duty,
six-row no-till plot planter that is being purchased with MWBC
and Montana Agricultural Experiment Station funding. This
planter allows MSU to handle more diverse planting conditions
for breeding and selection nurseries.
The winter wheat breeding program is continuing a transition to
an increasingly greater proportion of hard white winter wheats
in the breeding program. This is to position Montana for the
export market, which we anticipate in the future will require
hard white wheats suitable for both bread and Asian noodle
products. Should this market fail to develop as rapidly as
anticipated, MSU will continue to develop and release hard red
wheats as it does currently.
The Montana Wheat and Barley Commission supports the winter
wheat breeding programs, as does the Montana Agricultural
Experiment Station. For the period covered by this report, the
MWBC provided a $70,000 grant for general wheat breeding, an
additional $12,000 to support work to breed varieties resistant
to the wheat stem sawfly and $15,000 to help pay for the no-till
planter.
Montana
State University news release
4280 |
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