Various On-Station Variety Trials

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Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Spring Durum and Spring Barley Variety Performance Evaluations Under Dryland Chemical Fallow Conditions On‑Station at Northern Agricultural Research Center, Havre, Montana.  2013-2022.

Project Leader:           

Peggy Lamb, Research Scientist, Havre

Project Personnel:      

Eleri Haney, Research Associate, Havre

Sue Mondal, Winter Wheat Breeder/Geneticist, Bozeman

Jason Cook, Spring Wheat Breeder/Geneticist, Bozeman

Jamie Sherman, Spring Barley Breeder/Geneticist, Bozeman

Mike Giroux, Durum Breeder/Geneticist, Bozeman

Jake Tracy, Winter Wheat Research Associate, Bozeman

Hwa-young Heo, Spring Wheat Research Associate, Bozeman

Greg Lutgen, Barley Research Associate, Bozeman

Andy Hogg, Durum Research Associate, Bozeman

Content:

This report is intended to serve as a popularized 2022 summary of “primary” on-going cereal variety investigations traditionally conducted on-station by the Variety Testing Program at Northern Agricultural Research Center.  These data represent approximately 17 percent of NARC Variety Testing Programs total research project effort on-station at Havre.  The remaining 83 percent of the research not reported here includes cultivar and product evaluations associated with larger nurseries featuring early generation or other unnamed experimental materials not of general interest to the public; and/or experimental seed treatment, specialty crop, forage, fertility, fungicide or insecticide evaluations.  Long-term data summaries reported here are limited to the most recent ten years.  This is largely due to need for report brevity and the fact that most varieties have approximately a 10-year life span before they are replaced in common use with newer materials having superior production characteristics.  Variety performance data has been continuously collected and maintained at the Havre station for 107 years beginning in 1916.  Collection of wheat stem sawfly cutting data was added beginning in 2003.

Detailed data pertaining to multiple performance characters, along with associated climatic and management inputs are presented for 2022.  Abridged, multi-year summaries for each wheat cereal trial are limited to four crop characters (yield, test weight, protein and sawfly rating).  Individuals desiring additional detailed data may contact the research center or refer to current and previous editions of this and other reports at

https://agresearch.montana.edu/narc/.

2022 Data:

It should be noted that 2022 data tables in this report represent varietal performance for a single crop year at a single location only, and thus cannot be considered representative of performance expected when differing conditions due to location, year and management are imposed.  Therefore, by itself, 2022 data shall not constitute in any form a recommendation for or against any entry or practice included.

Please note that research trial seed yield results recorded under wheat stem sawfly pressure are likely much higher than a producer should expect.  Small plot variety trials are managed to assess maximum yield potential and are harvested in such a way that all stems and heads are picked up by the combine, regardless of lodging or cutting due to sawfly.  Pickup guards coupled with an extremely slow ground speed and an exceptionally low cutting height help researchers collect all heads in order to assess seed yield potential.  If you are a producer in a wheat stem sawfly environment, although hollow stemmed varieties may be high yielding in research trials in your area, we strongly recommend against growing those hollow stemmed varieties.  Please be aware that if you seed hollow stemmed varieties with sawfly present, you are only creating a breeding ground for future generations of sawfly in your area and not helping combat the pest population.

During the fall of 2021 and the spring of 2022, northcentral Montana received below average precipitation, with a continuation of the drought that began during the previous crop year.  The growing season started out in April with below average temperatures, which was the norm through mid-July.  With the first two weeks of June came the first significant and timely rains totaling nearly three inches, which saved both the spring and fall seeded crops. Meaningful rain events were minimal from late June through August, however cool temperature during the first part of July allowed for prolonged flowering, head fill and pod fill, resulting in higher than anticipated seed yields as northcentral Montana remained in extreme drought during 2022, as classified by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration U. S. Drought Monitor.  At Havre, annual growing season precipitation (9/1/21 through 8/31/22) was 8.15 inches, 3.87 inches lower than the average for all years since 1916.  April 1 through July 31 precipitation was 5.51 inches, just 81 percent of the 107‑year average.  Heat units expressed as "Growing Degree Days" (GDD, base 50) from May through July totaled 1286, or 98 percent of the average for the last 72 years (1951‑2022).  The last spring frost was on May 22 and the first fall frost of 2022 was on September 21, resulting in 122 frost-free days.  The minimum winter temperature was ‑29 degrees F on December 28, 2021.  Overall, the 2021-2022 average crop year temperatures were 1.4 degrees F warmer than the long-term average, mainly due to warmer winter months.  The April through July growing season saw an average daily temperature of 55.7 degrees F, 1.4 degrees F lower than historical temperatures, with June, July, and August average temperatures 2.6 degrees F lower than normal.  The high temperature for 2022 was recorded on August 2 at 99 degrees F, and there were 26 days with temperatures 90 degrees F or above, and no days over 100 degrees F.

Multi-Year Summary Data:

Use of a “Comparable Average” provides a mechanism for “estimating” the performance of varieties over a period of time longer than that for which actual data is available for them.  This is accomplished by comparing the performance of a “variety of interest” for the years it was actually tested with that of a designated “check” or reference variety grown in the same trial in the same years.  The performance of the variety of interest is then expressed as a percentage of the check variety’s performance.  This actual percentage or index is then applied to the actual long-term performance of the check to estimate the performance of the variety of interest had it been grown over the same long term.  The reliability of comparable average figures improves with increasing years of actual evaluation, so no entries with less than three years of actual data have been included in long-term summaries.

Other References:

It is intended that this report be used as a supplement to variety performance summaries prepared by MSU’s Plant Science and Plant Pathology Department on statewide evaluations by the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station:

            Winter Wheat Varieties, Extension Service 2B 1098 (Revised January-February annually)

            Spring Wheat Varieties, Extension Service 2B 1093 (Revised January-February annually)

            Barley Varieties, Extension Service 2B 1094 (Revised January-February annually)

These summaries include performance data, descriptions, quality assessments, disease and insect considerations, cropping district recommendations, cultural practices, and general crop production management information.  These publications are available from MSU-Extension Service offices and can further be accessed via the Internet at https://plantsciences.montana.edu/crops/index.html.

Recognition:

This research would not have been possible without the assistance of the following seasonal employees:

Tracy Gorecki, Cleta Lamb, Kyla McNamara, Teresa Miller, and Emily Tripp.

Summary of climatic data by months for the 2021-2022 crop year (September to August) and averages for the period 1916-2022  at the Northern Agricultural Research Center. Havre, Montana.

Winter Wheat Cultivar Evaluation

Advanced Yield Spring Wheat Evalulation

Montana Spring Durum Cultivar Evaluation

Spring Barley Evaluation Nursery