06/17/08 Skiles; a new OSU soft white winter wheat

Farm and Ranch June 17, 2008 Foundation seed will be available this fall for a new Oregon State University soft white winter wheat called Skiles. OSU wheat breeder Jim Peterson says the variety contains germplasm from Hybritech material donated to the university in 2000. Peterson: "Skiles is unique for us because it has more winter hardiness than the conventional OSU material, that Stephens, even than Tubbs. It also has a little different disease resistance package. It has a little better crown rot tolerance, a little better ceph stripe rust tolerance than a Stephens or a Tubbs or that kind of background that is common in our program. So I think it is going to be a good complement to some of the other varieties that are out there right now. And also for maybe some late seedings, or early seedings, where you have a little different disease pressures than normal management situations." Skiles is susceptible to straw breaker footrot. It is also susceptible to powdery mildew and septoria leaf blotch so it is not recommended for the Willamette valley. Skiles is best adapted to the dryland production in the Columbia Basin of eastern Oregon. It is however being tested for the first time this year in Washington State University trials and is expected to be well adapted to southeastern Washington where its increased winter hardiness will be beneficial. Peterson says Skiles has excellent end use quality. Skiles is an open release from OSU. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.