Some new hard white winter wheats
Washington Ag Today January 27, 2010 The University of Idaho has released two new hard white winter wheats with application in the dryland production areas of the Pacific Northwest. One is UICF-Grace, a hard white Clearfield wheat. Clearfield wheats are resistant to the herbicide imazamox which controls jointed goat grass and other important grassy weeds. U of I breeder Dr. Jianli Chen says Grace offers good yield potential and bread-baking quality, along with resistance to stripe rust and dwarf bunt. It also makes Asian noodles that stay bright longer. The second hard white winter is UI Silver, which carries a resistance to a globally threatening race of stem rust called TTKS. It is shorter than UICF Grace and can be grown under irrigation but because of its susceptibility to bacterial leaf blight, it too is better adapted to dryland production. While there is demand for hard white wheat overseas little of this wheat class is produced in the northwest or the U.S. Dr. Jianli Chen says hard red wheats are more bitter than hard whites, which see says; Chen: “Have a sweeter taste so for whole wheat and the user products like whole wheat breads, cookies and pizza crusts, industry is looking for more for human health benefit, so hard white has better benefit than hard red.” Breed and foundation seed of these two new hard white winter varieties will be maintained by the University of Idaho Foundation Seed program. Initial foundation seed sales are expected this coming fall. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network. ?
