8-21-09 wheat variety tests | CropWatch

August 21, 2009

The attainable wheat yield in a particular season is mainly determined by the

wheat variety,
management input, and
growing conditions Mother Nature provides.

Of these three factors, producers can exercise the maximum leverage for the minimum cost through variety selection. Variety selection can mean the difference between a most rewarding season or a disappointing one. Varieties selected to meet the needs of your operation are likely to generate the most return for comparatively less investment than other varieties. The UNL Variety Testing Program provides useful information on winter wheat varieties sold in Nebraska based on field trials conducted throughout the state under various conditions. Wheat varieties tested by the program come from

the UNL wheat breeding program,
public breeding programs from surrounding states such as Colorado, Kansas, and South Dakota, and
the private seed industry.

The Nebraska Wheat Board financially supports the testing of wheat varieties from other public institutions.

Accessing Wheat Variety Test Results

The results of these wheat variety tests are made available through the UNL Variety Test Web site and the Fall Seed Guide, Extension publication EC 101. (The publication is available from your local Extension office.) The Fall Seed Guide also contains information from the Nebraska Crop Improvement Association on certified seed sources and private industries developing and marketing wheat seeds in Nebraska.

This information is a good tool to help you make informed decisions when selecting varieties to plant for next year’s crop. It includes variety test results for yield, seed size, test weight, and grain protein at locations tested. Other important characteristics included are relative values for maturity, winter hardiness, straw strength, coleoptiles length, and disease and insect resistance.

Table 1 shows where trials were conducted this season and the yield potential and the mean yield of the top five and top ten varieties tested at each location. This information can help you get a glance of how various varieties performed at a location of interest. If the yield reported for the top five or ten doesn’t significantly differ from the current variety (ies) you use, it may not be necessary to look further. This is if yield is the only criteria. Use the LSD (Least Significant Difference) value to evaluate whether the observed difference in performance between varieties is significant. A 5% LSD value indicates a variety would yield better than the other variety at least 95 of 100 times due to real difference.

Table 2 shows the name and yield of the top five varieties for all locations by region. Some varieties were good across location and regions. Some performed well under regular and organic field management conditions. Varieties that ranked in the top five most frequently are shown in Table 3. When everything else remained the same, varieties that maintained reasonably high yield across locations and under different management conditions may show additional quality for stable yield performance.

Tips for Selecting Wheat Varieties Suited to Your Operation

Management information for all testing sites is given in the Fall Seed Guide (EC101). Producers are encouraged to relate the information given for the sites they’re interested in and consider how varietal response might transfer to their farm condition and management.

One advantage with comparing wheat test data over some other crops is the ease of finding three- to five-year averages. Wheat varieties have a longer field life than other crops such as corn. It is appropriate also to look at variety performance at different variety trial locations even when the location characteristics are far removed. Typically we conduct more than 20 wheat variety trials across the state each year. These trials are tested under rainfed, irrigated, and organic conditions. This gives an additional option for evaluating how some cultivars respond to a change in management.

Look at how a variety performed over several counties and several years. Information from one season to another and from one site to another varies with seasonal weather variation and associated effects on disease and pest dynamics. Comparing several sites and years can provide a more realistic average. Emphasize varieties that perform well over years and across locations. They’ll have more stability of performance and may do well under your specific conditions.
Consider factors such as soil type, seasonal rainfall amount and distribution, temperature, and management factors such as plot history, crop rotation, previous crop, residue management, tillage etc. These will have a significant effect on varietal performance in terms of yield, grain quality, and disease reaction.

Emphasize varieties that showed good disease and pest ratings at locations nearest to your farm or at locations with growing conditions similar to yours.
Depending on your farm condition and management style, consider potential benefit from stalks and crop aftermath.
Look for other agronomic characteristics that fit your management and production objective such as what you want to do with stables.
Also consider secondary benefits such as feed value after the field is harvested.

Teshome Regassa
Extension Educator

Table 1. Location Summary for Nebraska Winter Wheat Variety Tests, 2009.
		Date		Location Mean Yields (bu/a)
Region	County	Planted	Harvested	Top Yield	Top 5	Top 10
Southeast	Lancaster	Oct. 02, 2008	July 7, 2009	72.8	68.7	65.4
	Saunders	Sept. 26, 2008	July 9, 2009	84.9	78.2	74.6
South Central	Clay	Sept. 19, 2008	July 8, 2009	66.0	62.6	61.2
South West	Furnas	Sept. 25, 2008	July 10, 2009	88.3	84.4	81.9
	Keith	Sept. 16, 2008	July 17, 2009	51.5	50.1	49.4
	Lincoln	Sept. 26, 2008	July 15, 2009	78.8	76.2	75.1
	Red Willow	Sept. 23, 2008	July 9, 2009	81.2	78.9	76.8
Panhandle	Box Butte Rain-fed	Sept. 16, 2008	July 22, 2009	96.0	91.3	88.8
	Cheyenne Rain-fed	Sept. 15, 2008	July 24, 2009	78.1	77.0	76.3
	Deuel Rain-fed	Sept. 16, 2008	July 22, 2009	77.4	76.0	74.9
	Morrill Rain-fed	Sept. 11, 2008	July 18, 2009	44.5	41.3	39.9
	Scotts Bluff Rain-fed	Sept. 15, 2008	July 18, 2009	40.5	38.2	37.2
Southwest Irrigated	Chase	Oct. 3, 2008	July 22, 2009	78.5	80.1	77.7
Northeast Irrigated	Holt	Sept. 19, 2008	July 23, 2009	86.7	83.5	81.0
Organic	Cheyenne Organic	Sept. 19, 2008	July 24, 2009	44.0	42.3	41.7
	Saunders organic	Oct. 9, 2008	July 15,2009	94.4	89.4	87.4
	Clay Organic	Oct. 10, 2008	July 9, 2009	66.2	64.5	62.6
	Dixon organic	Oct. 3, 2008	July 10, 2009	53.5	53.5	51.4

Table 2. Top Five High Yielding Varieties by County and Region
	Deuel	bu/a	Cheyenne	bu/a	Morrill	bu/a	Scotts Bluff	bu/a	Box Butte	bu/a
West Dryland	NE03490	77	Keota	78	Settler CL	45	NE03490	41	NI04421	96
	Alliance	77	Settler CL	77	NE03490	42	Settler CL	38	Winterhawk	95
	Camelot	75	NE03490	77	Harry	41	Infinity CL	37	Harry	91
	Harry	75	NE05496	77	Goodstreak	40	Winterhawk	37	NE05549	88
	Smoky Hill	75	Harry	77	Alliance	40	NI04421	37	Settler CL	87
	Lincoln	bu/a	Keith	bu/a	Furnas	bu/a	Red Willow	bu/a
West Central	Armour	79	NE05496	52	NE01481	88	NE01481	81
	Goodstreak	76	NuDakota(W)	50	NE04490	85	NE05496	80
	Art	76	Alliance	50	Camelot	84	NE03490	79
	Camelot	75	NI04421	50	NX04Y2107	83	Alliance	79
	Alliance	75	Aspen (W)	50	Millennium	82	NE05549	76
	Lancaster	bu/a	Saunders	bu/a			Clay	bu/a
Southeast	Overland	73	Hallam	85		South Central	Wesley	66
	Millennium	72	Hitch	79			NX04Y2107	63
	Hitch	67	NE01481	79			NE05430	62
	Wahoo	67	NE05403	74			NE04490	61
	Infinity CL	66	NE04490	74			Settler CL	61
	Holt	bu/a	Chase	bu/a
Irrigated	NI04420	87	Aspen (W)	88
	PostRock	86	Armour	79
	NE05426	82	NE04490	79
	Art	82	Settler CL	78
	NI04436	81	NE03490	77

Table 3. Most frequent high yielding wheat varieties by management
Conventional				Organic		All Management
Freq.	Variety	Freq.	Variety	Freq.	Variety	Freq.	Variety	Freq.	Variety
6	NE03490	2	Art	4	NE03490	10	NE03490	2	Aspen (W)
6	Settler CL	2	Aspen (W)	2	Camelot	6	Settler CL	2	Hatcher
5	Alliance	2	Goodstreak	2	Hatcher	5	Alliance	2	Hitch
4	Harry	2	Hitch	2	NE06469	5	Camelot	2	Infinity CL
4	NE04490	2	Infinity CL	2	Pronghorn	4	Harry	2	Millennium
3	Camelot	2	Millennium	2	Wahoo	4	NE04490	2	NE05549
3	NE01481	2	NE05549			3	Goodstreak	2	NE06469
3	NE05496	2	NX04Y2107			3	NE01481	2	NX04Y2107
3	NI04421	2	Winterhawk			3	NE05496	2	Pronghorn
2	Armour					3	NI04421	2	Wesley
						3	Wahoo	2	Winterhawk
						2	Armour
						2	Art

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