Sept. 5, 2015

It is time to plant winter wheat for 2015 crop season. Which variety to plant? Farmers may have their own choice of variety which gives the best yield on his or her farm. The same variety may not perform at the same level in a farm in the neighboring county. Therefore, each year the UNL Extension develops research-based information of high yielding varieties suitable for production throughout the Nebraska Panhandle.

Tables 1-2 list winter wheat varieties recommended for planting in the Nebraska Panhandle.

How was the list of recommended varieties developed?

Every year UNL Extension tests winter wheat varieties from public (e.g., UNL, CSU) and private (WestBred, Limagrain) wheat breeding programs for seed yield, test weight, and general adaptability throughout the Panhandle District under both rainfed and irrigated production conditions. In 2014, 46 varieties were tested at five rainfed sites and 38 varieties were tested at one site (Hemingford in Box Butte County) under irrigation. The five rainfed sites were:

• near Chappell in Deuel County,
• near the High Plains Ag. Lab (near Sidney) in Cheyenne County,
• near Hemingford in Box Butte County,
• near Chadron in Dawes County, and
• in Goshen County, Wyo., near Lyman, Nebr.

Yield data from these five sites were used to calculate 2014 average yields for the Panhandle District. We calculated average yields of the common varieties tested in the last three years (2012-2014). This three-year average data was used to develop the list of varieties for the Panhandle. The list of irrigated varieties was developed similarly, using the last three years of data. We recommend these varieties for high grain yield production potential throughout the Nebraska Panhandle. These varieties also have better end use quality and better disease and insect packages compared to the older varieties.

Seed sources for these varieties are listed on the Panhandle Recommended Varieties web page in the CropWatch Wheat section. Click on individual variety names for more information on the variety and local seed dealers.

For more information on these varieties contact Dipak Santra, the Alternative Crops Breeding Specialist at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center, Scottsbluff (dsantra2@unl.edu; office: 308-632-1244 and cell: 970-397-9817).

Dipak Santra, Alternative Crops Breeding Specialist, Panhandle REC, Scottsbluff
Teshome Regassa, UNL Crop Variety Testing Coordinator, Lincoln