Researching seeding a mixture of hard red spring wheats

Farm and Ranch July 11, 2011 Washington State University spring wheat breeder Michael Pumphrey is doing some research on seeding more than one hard red spring wheat variety in a field.

Pumphrey: “There is a significant number of hard red spring wheat acres in the state just being put to blends that people recommend without really any data. So we are looking a various combinations of existing spring wheat varieties that we feel make sense to blend based on complementary characteristics and planting those in multiple locations to try get that sort of concrete empirical data on which lines tend to do best in a blend together that give you the right combination of yield, protein and test weight that you are looking for.”

Making protein is key for hard red spring wheat and Pumphrey says that typically the best protein varieties are a little lower on the yield end.

Pumphrey: “And so it is trying to find that right balance of maintaining marketable protein quantity while maximizing yield potential. And ideally we will have just one line that is the highest yielding and the highest protein but that doesn‘t exist today. So we are trying to see which ones go together best to put that combination in one package.”

In Washington Pumphrey says a recent release from WSU, Kelse, and an older variety out of Argentina, Buck Pronto, are generally the highest protein spring wheats and they will be combined with known high yielding varieties with average to good protein for this research to see what is the best blend of varieties to seed to get both protein and yield.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net.

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