Statewide Winter Wheat Variety Evaluation

Objective:       

To evaluate winter wheat varieties and experimental lines for agronomic performance in environments and cropping systems representative of northwestern Montana.    

Results:           

Winter wheat yields averaged 97.3 bu/A, and ranged from to 16.4 bu/A for Bearpaw to 148.9 bu/A for MT1471 (Table 2). No fungicide applications were made and stripe rust was prevalent throughout the nursery.  This in turn, had a negative effect on yield (Figure 1).  The average infection level was 69.5 %, and ranged from 21.7 % for MT1488 to 99.3 % for WB4059CLP. Days to fifty percent heading averaged 149 days (May 28) and ranged from 139 days (May 18) for Freeman to 153 days (June 1) for WB-Quake and BZ9W09-2212. Height averaged 41.0 inches and ranged from 32.6 inches for WB4059CLP to 46.5 inches for WB3768. Lodging averaged 8.0 % and ranged from 0.0 % to 70.0 % for MT1348.  Percent protein averaged 12.33 % and ranged from 10.93 % for WB3768 to 15.44 % Bearpaw. Test weights also were affected by stripe rust (Figure 2). Test weight averaged 53.7 lb/bu and ranged from a low of 38.7 lb/bu for Byrd to a high of 59.7 lb/bu for MT1488 and Warhorse. Falling numbers were fairly high for this nursery and averaged 336 seconds.  The range in falling numbers was only 93 seconds and varied from a high of 390 for WB4623CLP to low of 297 for T158.  The latter was the only entry which failed to meet the 300 second discount level.

Summary:       

The 2016 growing conditions provided significant disease pressure resulting in noticeable yield reductions.

Fig 1. The relationship between the percentage of stripe rust and the crop yield.

Fig 2. The relationship between the stripe rust percentage and the test weight.