Clearfield wheats from the University of Idaho
Farm and Ranch July 21, 2009 One reason University of Idaho wheat breeder Bob Zemetra was an advocate of a tri-state agreement among northwest land grant universities on the release of Clearfield wheats is that he has another one coming. Last year Zemetra released a Clearfield Lambert or UICF Lambert. Zemetra: “And that is transferring the herbicide resistance trait into Lambert wheat, which was the first variety released out of my program.” If BASF, which licenses the Clearfield technology approves, Zemetra says he will be releasing UICF Brundage, another soft white winter wheat. Zemetra: “And this line is based off Brundage 96 and the idea is that if you have a weed problem like jointed goat grass and are familiar with Brundage 96, you could plant this wheat instead and take advantage of the herbicide resistance in a weed management program to try and reduce the amount of goat grass in the field.” Zemetra says both the Clearfield Lambert and Brundage yield the same as their namesakes. Zemetra: “UCIF Brundage actually, because I had a little more chance to do selection on it, where Brundage 96 showed a little stripe rust in severe years, UCIF Brundage should have a little stronger level of resistance.” These varieties are based on one gene resistance to the Beyond herbicide of the Clearfield system but Zemetra is working on two gene resistance to increase crop safety. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network. ?
