Agricultural News
OSU Developed Wheat Varieties Planted on More Than One Third of Oklahoma Wheat Acreage
Thu, 05 Mar 2015 08:48:06 CST
Oklahoma State University (OSU) varieties continue to be the leading Hard Red Winter Wheat varieties planted in the state of Oklahoma as the top four wheat varieties planted in the state were developed by the OSU wheat breeding program. The roots of success continue to be firmly anchored with several other up-and-coming OSU varieties being used by Oklahoma wheat producers. The top hard red winter wheat variety was Duster, followed by Endurance, Gallagher and Ruby Lee. According to the March 2015 "Oklahoma Wheat Variety Report" from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, these four top varieties represent over 34% of the acres seeded to wheat in the fall of 2014 for the 2015 harvest season.
For the fourth year in a row, Duster continues to be the leading variety of all wheat seeded in Oklahoma, accounting for 14.1 percent of the state's 2015 planted wheat acres. Duster was the most popular variety throughout the central corridor of wheat production in the state. To review the entire Wheat Variety Report as released by the National Ag Statistics Service of USDA, click here.
Duster has been a consistent top performer in OSU wheat variety tests. It performs well in both grain-only and dual purpose systems and has above-average tillering ability which allows it to recover well from grazing. It emerges well in hot, dry soil conditions and closes the canopy rapidly. These traits along with good forage production and medium-late first hollow stem make Duster a nice fit for dual-purpose production systems. Duster has effective resistance to several diseases common to Oklahoma, including leaf rust, stripe rust, powdery mildew, wheat soilborne mosaic, wheat spindle streak mosaic and barley yellow dwarf. Moderate susceptibility to tan spot and septoria means Duster should be monitored for these diseases in continuous no-till wheat production systems.
Endurance wheat, a mainstay released by Oklahoma State University Wheat Improvement team in 2004, has performed well in dual-purpose and grain only systems throughout the state of Oklahoma and beyond. It shows an unusual ability to break winter dormancy consistently late from year to year yet will catch up on heading date relative to Duster. Still Endurance finishes relatively late and often benefits from moderate temperatures during May. Years of yield data indicate that Endurance has the ability to maintain good yield potential in a wide range of stress environments as well. Given these attributes, it should be no surprise that the OSU wheat improvement team has used Duster and Endurance as a sturdy foundation for creating new, improved varieties.
For example, Gallagher, a newer OSU variety with Duster parentage, has great forage production with improved yield and a disease resistance package similar to Dusters but with improved tolerance to leaf spotting diseases expected in no-till or high residue systems. Gallagher is an early maturing wheat but good grazing tolerance. The seed size is larger than Duster and has above average test weights. Gallagher also has the same genetic source of Hessian fly resistance as Duster. It also carries a key segment of a rye chromosome that lends greater yielding ability, but unlike so many varieties with this feature, Gallagher has provided above milling and baking quality.
The Ruby Lee variety has Endurance as one of its parents with large seed size and outstanding milling and baking characteristics. The Endurance influence lends excellent forage production and recovery from grazing. On the other hand, Ruby Lee is highly responsive to intensive management with great top-end yield potential. Stripe rust and powdery mildew can restrict yield of Ruby Lee, so foliar fungicides are recommended when justified by yield potential. The Ruby Lee variety is Hessian fly resistant with good tan spot resistance for no till systems. Ruby Lee is best suited for a soil pH of 5.5 and above. Ruby Lee has good drought tolerance and wide area of adaptation throughout the Southern Plains but appears best fit for downstate Oklahoma.
For more wheat variety information about OSU wheat- click here for the Ok Genetics website.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
Top Agricultural News
More Headlines...