2020 Various On-Station Variety Trials 

Note: A PDF version of this report can be downloaded by clicking this link

Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Spring Durum, Spring Barley and Safflower Variety Performance Evaluations Under Dryland Chemical Fallow Conditions On‑Station at Northern Agricultural Research Center, Havre, Montana.  2011-2020.

Project Leader:              Peggy Lamb, Research Scientist, Havre

Project Personnel:        

Kyla McNamara, Research Associate, Havre

Eleri Haney, Research Associate, Havre

Phil Bruckner, Winter Wheat Breeder/Geneticist, Bozeman

Phil Bruckner, Interim Spring Wheat Breeding Program Coordinator, Bozeman

Jamie Sherman, Spring Barley Breeder/Geneticist, Bozeman

Mike Giroux, Durum Breeder/Geneticist, Bozeman

Jim Berg, 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

Jerald Bergman, Safflower Breeder/Agronomist, Williston, ND

Content:

This report is intended to serve as a popularized 2020 summary of “primary” on-going cereal and oilseed crop variety investigations traditionally conducted on-station by the Variety Testing Program at Northern Agricultural Research Center.  These data represent approximately 16 percent of NARC Variety Testing Programs total research project effort on-station at Havre.  The remaining 84 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 and 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 105 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 2020.  Abridged, multi-year summaries for each wheat cereal trial are limited to four crop characters (yield, test weight, protein and sawfly rating) while the safflower summary is limited to two crop characters (yield and oil content).  Individuals desiring detailed data for other than the current year may contact the research center or refer to previous editions of this report for the year(s) of interest.

2020 Data: 

It should be noted that 2020 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, 2020 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.

Crop year 2020 was nearly on par with the long-term temperature average for the year, however, April was five degrees cooler than normal, delaying ideal soil temperatures for seeding.  Spring and summer months during the growing season had below average precipitation, however late June rainfall coupled with below average temperatures in July resulted in better than anticipated spring crop yields in north central Montana.  At Havre, annual growing season precipitation (9/1/19 through 8/31/20) was 10.52 inches, 1.53 inches lower than the average for all years since 1916.  April 1 through July 31 precipitation was 5.55 inches, or 82 percent of the 105‑year average.  Heat units expressed as "Growing Degree Days" (GDD, base 50) from May through July totaled 1220, or 95 percent of the average for the last 70 years (1951‑2020).  The last spring frost was on May 12 and the first fall frost of 2020 was on October 1, resulting in 142 frost-free days.  The minimum winter temperature was ‑24 degrees F on January 16, 2020.  Overall, the 2019-2020 average crop year temperatures were 0.3 degrees F warmer than the long-term average.  The April through July growing season saw an average daily temperature of 57 degrees F, 1.4 degrees F lower than historical temperatures.  July and August temperatures were higher than the long-term averages, with the high for 2020 recorded on August 18 at 99 degrees F.  There were 19 days with temperatures 90 degrees F or above, with 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 February-March annually)

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

            Barley Varieties, Extension Service 2B 1094 (Revised February-March 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.

Recongition:

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

Peyton Brown, Jonathan Erickson, Daisen Fox, Faith Gasvoda, Isabella Lawless, Tracey Reed, Erin Taylor and Ivy Thomas.

Winter Wheat Cultivar Evaluations

Advanced Yield Spring Wheat Evaluations

Montana Spring Durum Cultivar Evaluations

Intrastate Spring Barley Cultivar Evaluation

Montana Safflower Cultivar Evaluation Nursery