Personnel:

Bob Stoudaard, NWARC, Kalispell

Objective:

To evaluate experimental and commercially available hard spring wheat cultivars for agronomic performance in environments representative of northwestern Montana. 

Results:

This nursery was established to evaluate hard red and hard white spring wheat varieties that are normally be targeted for use in the Pacific Northwest. This year’s heat and drought resulted in a shorter crop, with plant height averaging 21 inches. WA 8259 was the tallest variety at 24 inches, and Patwin 515 was the shortest, at 17.1 inches. Heading spanned 7 days, with UI Platinum and IDO1604S being the earliest varieties at 170 days, and Patwin 515 the latest at 176.7 days. There were no statistical differences among varieties for yield. Numerically, WA 8282 was the highest yielding variety, producing 45.5 2 bu/A, whereas IDO1604S was the lowest yielding variety, at 28.1 bu/A. Egan had the highest protein at 16.11 %, and UI Platinum the lowest at 12.94 percent. Test weights were low, averaging 58.5 lb/bu. WA 8281 had the highest test weight at 60.8 lb/bu and Patwin 515HP the lowest at 54.9 lb/bu. Falling numbers were high and all entries avoided dockage this year Egan had the highest falling number at 524, while Patwin 515 had the lowest at 381 seconds.

Summary:

Statistical differences were detected for all response variables, except yield.  The heat and drought resulted in shorter plants, low yields and test weights, and high proteins and falling numbers. 

Table 1. Materials and Methods.

Seeding Date: 5/3/2017 Harvest Date: 8/11/2017
Julian Date: 123 Julian Date: 223
Seeding Rate: 85 lb/A Soil Type: Creston SiL
Previous Crop: Peas Soil Test: 29-16-156
Tillage: Conventional Fertilizer: 150-30-30

Table 2. Agronomic data from the Western Regional Hard Spring Wheat Nursery, Kalispell, MT - 2017.

Cultivar HD Julian HT in. YLD bu/A PRO % TWT lb/bu FN sec
WA 8282 171.3 23.1 45.5 13.67 58.7 498.9
12SB0197 176.0 20.6 44.1 13.43 57.0 471.8
Vida 176.0 21.4 41.1 13.55 59.2 398.2
WA 8259 172.3 24.0 39.9 15.25 59.9 452.2
IDO1602S 171.0 21.9 39.1 13.65 59.6 519.0
WA 8281 172.0 23.5 38.5 13.89 60.8 480.0
Patwin-515HP 176.0 18.4 38.0 15.52 54.9 402.2
Glee 171.0 21.6 37.4 14.03 59.5 481.1
WB9518 175.7 20.1 37.3 15.06 58.4 424.0
UI Winchester 172.0 21.4 37.2 13.99 58.3 454.1
Jefferson 173.0 22.6 37.0 14.20 59.1 471.3
Egan 176.3 21.9 33.0 16.11 56.1 524.2
WA 8261 171.3 21.5 32.6 14.54 60.4 444.9
UI Platinum 170.0 18.8 32.3 12.94 59.3 488.0
Patwin 515 176.7 17.1 30.8 14.54 56.3 381.8
IDO1604S 170.0 19.0 28.1 13.08 58.5 429.4
Mean 173.2 21.1 37.0 14.22 58.5 457.6
LSD P = 0.05 2.01 2.31 12.63 0.51 0.74 75.75
CV 0.70 6.58 20.48 2.14 0.75 9.93
Pr>F 0.0001 0.0001 0.3580 0.0001 0.0001 0.0128

HD: heading date; HT: height; YLD: yield; PRO: protein; TWT: test weight; FN: falling number