Agricultural News
OSU Obtains Data on New Wheat Varieties Despite Drought
Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:44:53 CDT
Dr. Brett Carver, Regents Professor in Plant and Soil Sciences at Oklahoma State University, recently gave us an update on how different wheat varieties fared during the extreme drought of 2011. Carver said he was concerned that with the extreme weather this year data would be lacking for many varieties but he was surprised that they were able to get a good amount of data and information.
Carver said his thoughts on many varieties concerning drought tolerance in the past were confirmed this year. Many of the varieites that have Duster in their parentage continue to shine and these lines that have strong disease resistance still had relatively good drought tolerance says Carver. Duster was first looked at as an experimental variety in 2005 and 2006. In 2005, there was a lot of stripe rust, which Duster faired well against. Also, 2006 was a drought year with a lot of drought stress, which Duster still did well against. Duster also has some of the best resistance to barley yellow dwarf, which is a common disease to Oklahoma.
Some of the newer varieties that are also key players this year are Ruby Lee and Garrison. Ruby Lee has the variety Endurance as part of its parentage, which provides a lot of similarities between the two. Ruby Lee is a very early maturing variety and has about the same level of protection against stripe rust as Endurance, says Carver. Ruby Lee also is a very good milling quality, which includes seed size and test weights. Ruby Lee allows producers to reach a new level of yield says Carver.
Garrison is a different variety that is like Endurance in the maturity pattern with a late maturity date, however, Endurance is not in its parentage. Garrison also provides a good level of protection to a lot of diseases and to freeze as well. Carver says the freezes that were experienced in 2007 and 2009 seemed to have little effect on the Garrison variety and it still yielded quite well. Another strong point of the Garrison variety is the resistance is has to scab, which Carver says has not been in any previous OSU releases.
Carver says the new varieties like Ruby Lee and Garrison are both great varieties, but they can do better and these provide great places to start.
Click on the LISTEN bar below to hear the rest of Dr. Carver's conversation with Ron Hays on the new varieties of wheat, as well as, what farmers should plan on for early planting this fall.
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