Objective:          

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

Results:

This nursery was established to evaluate spring wheat varieties for yield and agronomic performance in the absence of fungicide or insecticide inputs. This year, rainfall was largely absent as well.  This resulted in a shorter crop, with plant height averaging 21 inches.  Fortuna was the tallest variety at 26 inches, and MT1525 was the shortest, at 19 inches.  Heading spanned 8 days, with MT1570 being the earliest variety at 171 days, and NS Presser CL the latest at 179.3 days.  NS Presser CL also was the highest yielding variety, producing 46.7 bu/A, whereas Brennan was the lowest yielding variety, at 25 bu/A.  There were no differences among varieties for either protein or test weight.  Protein averaged 14.87 % while test weight averaged 59.4 lb/bu.

Summary:

Spring wheat yields were fifty percent of the normal long term average, with NS Presser CL, LCS Pro, Vida, WB Gunnison, Alum and Lanning being the top performers.

 

Table 1. Materials and Methods.   
Seeding Date: 5/4/2017 Harvest Date: 8/9/2017
Julian Date: 124 Julian Date: 229
Seeding Rate: 80 lb/A Soil Type: Kalispell vfsl
Previous Crop: peas Soil Test: 29-16-156
Tillage: Conventional Fertilizer: 150-30-30
Herbicide: Huskie 11 oz & Axial 16.4 oz   

 

Table 2. Agronomic Data    
 Variety HD HT YLD PRO TWT
Julian inch bu/A % lb/bu
NS Presser CL+ 179.3 21.3 46.7 14.92 59.5
LCS Pro 174.0 23.0 45.2 14.80 60.3
Vida 176.3 20.5 41.7 15.20 59.7
WB Gunnison 173.0 20.8 41.3 14.58 59.4
Alum 174.7 22.7 41.0 14.20 59.2
Lanning 176.3 20.2 40.3 14.87 59.3
Oneal 177.0 21.6 36.9 15.18 60.2
MT 1525 173.0 19.0 36.9 15.09 58.8
Reeder 177.7 19.7 35.9 14.31 59.3
WB9879CLP 176.0 21.8 35.9 14.90 60.1
Duclair 171.3 22.2 35.4 14.26 59.9
SY Ingmar 173.3 21.0 35.4 15.54 57.8
MT 1543 171.7 20.9 34.1 15.23 60.2
Choteau 173.0 19.4 32.9 14.48 60.3
MT 1570 171.3 20.0 32.3 15.33 58.7
Egan 178.0 21.5 32.1 15.48 58.1
Fortuna 173.3 26.1 30.0 14.33 59.1
SY Soren 173.3 20.6 28.3 15.13 59.1
Corbin 172.0 20.7 28.0 14.89 59.3
Brennan 171.7 19.2 25.3 14.65 59.6
Mean 174.3 21.1 35.8 14.87 59.4
LSD P=.05 1.364 2.379 9.68 1.275 1.94
CV 0.47 6.82 16.38 5.19 1.98
Pr>F 0.0001 0.0003 0.0030 0.6396 0.4413
TWT: test weight, ns: nonsignificant.