Bismark, North Dakota
July 21, 2008Source:
North Dakota Wheat Commission
Hard Red Spring Wheat
Glenn remains the top hard red spring wheat variety for
the second straight year, according to the 2008 N.D.
Agricultural Statistics survey on wheat varieties, as it widened
its share of acres, jumping 20.9 percent to 27.9 per cent of the
planted acres. The remaining top five were SteeleND,
Freyr, Briggs and Alsen although all of these
held steady or dropped slightly in acres as newer releases with
improved yield potential and disease ratings made small gains.
Glenn, a 2005 NDSU variety, was planted on only 1.7 percent of
acres just two years ago, but has rapidly grown in popularity
with producers because of its high level of resistance to both
Fusarium headblight and leaf rust, competitive yields and
exceptionally high test weight. North Dakota Wheat Commission
Marketing Director Jim Peterson says the Glenn variety also
holds additional traits that appeals to others as well.
"As an added bonus to both domestic and international customers,
Glenn has superior milling and baking qualities," Peterson said.
"The Glenn variety is the industry standard for hard red spring
wheat quality in most public and private breeding programs."
NDSU variety Steele-ND moved up from fifth last year with a
steady share of acres at 9.2 percent and it has now overtaken
Reeder as the top variety in the southwest district. Agripro
variety Freyr held on to the third place spot with 8.6 percent
of acres and South Dakota variety Briggs, the top variety in the
southeast district, stayed in the fourth place spot with 7.6
percent of acres. Alsen, a 2000 NDSU release saw the biggest
decline in acreage falling from 15.1 percent of acres to 7.6
percent and dropping to fifth place. Alsen had been the top
variety from 2002-2006 Newer releases which made notable gains
in acres this year and promise to continue to see gains in the
coming years include, Howard and Faller, NDSU releases; Kelby
and Kuntz from AgriPro and Choteau, a solid stem variety from MT
State University which is being grown in areas with wheat stem
sawfly pressures.
Durum
Lebsock and Mountrail remain North Dakota's top
planted durum varieties and continue to dominate the share of
acres planted with nearly one-half of the acres, although their
share of acres has declined slightly compared to 2007. The
remaining top five include Ben, Divide and
Pierce. Lebsock accounts for 27 percent of the acres this
year and has been the number one variety since 2004 with a
remarkably stable share of acres each year as it has broad base
appeal across the state. It is popular with producers because of
its high test weight and combination of competitive yield and
disease tolerance. Mountrail accounted for 21 percent of acres
and is the top variety in the dominant durum area of the state,
the northwest district, where it has proven to be the consistent
high yielding variety. Divide made the largest gain this year,
accounting for 7.6 percent of acres, up from just 1.7 percent
last year. The varieties Ben and Pierce account for 10.3 and 7.5
percent of the acres, respectively, but both lost a share of
acres compared to last year.
In addition to Divide, recently released varieties such as
Alkabo and Grenora, all 2005 releases from the NDSU breeding
program made gains in 2008 and now account for a combined 13.7
percent of the acres, up from 2.8 last year. Peterson says the
growth in these varieties can be attributed to their quality
characteristics and end-use performance.
"These varieties show much better end-use performance qualities,
among the NDSU releases compared to Lebsock and Mountrail and it
is a positive trend for our customers to see increase acres of
these varieties. They promise to continue to expand in acres as
they also offer good yield and disease packages which growers
need. The extremely high price for durum seed this spring likely
minimized the amount of switch over to these newer varieties
this season.
Hard Red Winter Wheat
Jerry was again the number one variety of hard red winter
wheat planted this year, accounting for over half, or 50.5
percent of acres. Jerry, a 2001 NDSU release with good winter
hardiness and good overall quality, has held the number one
position for the last five years, gaining in acreage each year.
The other top five varieties lost acres this year, likely due to
lower winter hardiness as compared to Jerry.
The top five varieties remained the same as the year before.
Holding on to second place was CDC Falcon with 13.9
percent of acres, Jagalene with 10.4 percent, Wesley
with 6.2 percent and Millennium with 2.2 percent.
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