P.O. Box 729, Hwy 158 E, Bay, AR 72411, USA.
June Hancock and Craig Allen.
Overall in our program, we achieved
excellent yields this past season. Yields ranged from a location
average low of 38 bu/acre at Foreman, AR, to high averages of
102 bu/acre at Henderson, KY, and Plains, GA. We saw very little
disease pressure. Early in the spring, we observed Septoria
and bacterial stripe, but these diseases never developed into
problems. We noted Fusarium in our northern plots. We
observed cereal leaf beetle at Bay, AR, but at very low levels.
Armyworms were the worst problem that we experienced this last
spring. It was possibly the most severe outbreak ever observed
in Arkansas.
This past year we did agronomic work
on intensive management schemes, seed treatments, and seeding
rates. We also conducted work on the vernalization requirements
of our varieties.
OR Melhoramento de Sementes Ltda.
Rua Joao
Battisti, 76, Passo Fundo, RS, Brazil.
O.S. Rosa and A.C. Rosa.
Brazilian wheat production has been
affected by a very strong political change in the last 5 years.
Farmers must be able to compete economically and in industrial
quality with wheat imported from Argentina, Canada, the United
States, and other countries. Consequently, the objectives of
breeding programs had to be altered.
In 1994, the Brazilian wheat production
was 2 million tons, whereas consumption reached 9 million tons.
Our company released recently its first
wheat cultivar, `OR-Juanito'
(CAR/COR/VEE FONT SIZE=2 FACE s'/3/BOW
FONT SIZE=2 FACE="WP TypographicSymbols"?s').
Introduced from CIMMYT, it was recommended to the state of Mato
Grosso do Sul for soils without aluminum toxicity. Its yield
was 9 % higher than the checks, and the industrial quality was
classified as superior.
Adult plant resistance to mildew.
The variety Trigo BR 35 was released
by EMBRAPA in 1989 and has been an important wheat cultivar to
the states of Parana and Rio Grande do Sul. It was considered
moderately resistant at the seedling stage and highly resistant
under field conditions to Erysiphe graminis tritici
in the period from 1985-89
(Rosa OS et al. 1992).
Trigo BR 35 was evaluated in a plastic
house at Passo Fundo, RS, under a severe natural infection of
E. g. tritici, during the winter of 1994.
The high inoculum pressure throughout the development of the
plants enabled us to confirm the resistance reaction of the adult
plants despite the susceptibility of the seedlings. The resistance
of Trigo BR 35 (IAC5*2/3/CNT7*3/Londrina//IAC5/Hadden), effective
for 10 years, was inherited, either partially or completely, from
the variety Hadden.
Reference.
Rosa OS, Barcellos AL, Zanatta ACA,
Prestes AM, Tomm GO, Sousa CNA, Gomes EP, Moreira JCS, Sartori
JR, and Caetano VR. 1992. Trigo BR 35 -
Nova cultivar para o Sul do Brasil. Pesq Agropec Bras 27(8):1223-1227.
P.O. Box 17164, Bainsvlei, 9338, South Africa.
F. du Toit, S.S. Walters, A. Brummer,
and P. Thorpe.
The 1994 wheat season in the Orange Free State was extremely dry and only 2 mm of rain were recorded in the period between planting and the beginning of harvesting at our wheat research station. In spite of the drought, some elite lines yielded up to 2.0 ton/ha. The dry conditions provided a good opportunity to select material with drought tolerance.
Winter wheat program.
Two medium-maturing cultivars, PAN 3232 and PAN 3235, were released
in April 1994 and were described in Vol. 40 of the AWN.
These lines were tested as PX 9023 and PX 9201, respectively.
Spring wheat program.
Evaluation of spring wheat lines continued in the western Cape
Province and under irrigation in the northern Cape Province.
Promising lines will be tested again in 1995.
Russian wheat aphid.
Severe infestations of RWA occurred in the Orange Free State
during 1994. Field trials show a reduction in yield of up to
11 % in some resistant lines carrying the Dn1 gene, compared
to a 2 % reduction in lines with Dn5, and 60 % reduction
on susceptible cultivars. The genetic background in which a specific
gene operates also plays an important role in the effectiveness
of resistance.
PIONEER HI-BRED INTERNATIONAL, INC.
Worldwide Wheat Research; Johnston, IA, USA.
(Tel: (515) 270-4029, Fax: (515) 253-2478)
Ian B. Edwards.
Wheat research operations remain focused
on the soft red winter and soft white winter wheat classes in
North America, whereas in Europe, varietal development is aimed
at the following market classes:
1. Soft Red Winter: France, U.K., Germany, Belgium, Austria/Central Europe.
2. Hard Red Winter: France, Spain, Italy, Austria/Central Europe.
3. Hard Red Spring: Spain, Portugal, Greece.
4. Hard White Spring: Spain.
5. Durum: Italy, Spain, Greece, France.
In addition, research and product development
operations are underway in the Middle East/North Africa, Southern
Africa, and Australia.
1. USA.: Soft Red Winter Wheat. 2628
was released for the Southeast region. It has Hessian fly resistance
and is also resistant to soilborne mosaic virus, leaf blight,
and leaf rust. 2643 is a very short, early-maturing variety
with very high yield potential, excellent test weight, and good
overall disease resistance.
2. France: Soft Red Winter Wheat.
`Victo'
is registered with a 14 % yield advantage over the official check
cultivars. It has B1 quality and is resistant to Septoria
and powdery mildew.
3. Spain: The varieties Moro,
Caro, and Torero were registered in Spain. Moro
has excellent drought tolerance and high yield potential; Caro
has very broad adaptability and medium baking quality; and Torero
is a very short, bearded, medium-late wheat for the high
potential irrigation areas. Moro also has been registered in
Greece.
4. Portugal: Milfo, Mercero,
and Torero were registered in Portugal. Milfo has Septoria
leaf blight tolerance; Torero has strong resistance to powdery
mildew; and Mercero combines high yield with good overall disease
resistance.
Gregory C. Marshall, Kyle Lively, and
Bill Laskar.
The 1993-94
season. The wet conditions
that plagued much of the Corn Belt in the summer of 1993 continued
into the wheat planting season, delaying or prohibiting planting
in some areas. Fortunately, we were able to plant all our yield
test and nursery locations except one in southwest Illinois.
Most of the wheat crop was adequately hardened and had sufficient
snow cover to survive record cold in January of 1994. However,
continued abundant precipitation caused ponding in many low lying
areas and led to substantial ice damage. As a result, nearly
10 % of the planted acreage in the eastern Corn Belt eventually
was abandoned.
Spring brought favorable growing conditions,
and many fields with thin stands began to recover nicely. Generally
dry weather persisted until harvest and led to very low levels
of foliar disease. The low disease pressure, combined with favorable
temperatures during grain fill, produced high yields for most
of our test sites and record or near-record yield averages for
the states in our testing area.
Varietal development.
Approximately 88 % of our yield test plots were harvested. Although
the tests had more variability than usual, our overall elite test
mean was 90.3 bu/acre. In addition to the yield tests planted
by the Windfall staff, yield trials also were conducted in cooperation
with Pioneer agronomists in Maryland and Ontario, Canada.
Nearly 40 % of our F3 headrows
at Windfall were lost to ice damage. Fortunately, our southern
Indiana nursery was not affected and provided moderate selection
pressure for leaf blight, powdery mildew, and Fusarium head scab.
The remaining nurseries at Windfall were typified by low disease
pressure and high grain yields.
New releases.
Two recent releases, 2510 and 2737W, have received
support for registration in Canada and should be available for
sales in the fall of 1995. Both 2510, a soft red winter, and
2737W, a soft white winter, are best suited to the soft wheat
production areas of Ontario.
Guy Dorlencourt, Steven Bentley, Robert
Marchand, and Quitterie Vanderpol.
The 1993-94
season. Apart from November,
which was dry, the 1993-94
winter season was rainy and mild. The wheat went through the
winter quite well, and we also had good conditions during spring.
Stripe rust appeared by April in some
locations in the north of France on untreated plots. Eyespot
and Septoria nodorum caused yield losses in farmers
fields, mainly in the northern part of France. In the south,
eyespot and leaf rust were quite severe depending on the locations.
Finally, the ripening conditions were quite favorable, and water
reserves of soils allowed good filling of wheat kernels.
Varietal development.
VICTO (2256), a semidwarf, bearded wheat having good baking
quality, is our first winter wheat registered in France. It is
quite susceptible to stripe rust, but very resistant to leaf rust,
powdery mildew, and also resistant to both mosaic viruses. It
is a semi-facultative wheat with good winterhardiness. It out-yielded
the checks in the south zone by 14 %. It also has entered second-year
registration in the north zone. Victo also obtained good results
in Austria, Germany, and northern Italy.
2268 is in second-year registration and has earned a special interest by the French Miller Association for its quality. 2246 and 2267 are good bread making wheat varieties that are in first-year registration, as well as 2235, which has proved to have special quality for biscuits.
Miscellaneous items.
Our program of testing continues with four locations in northern
France and four locations over the southwest and south. We also
are testing our early material in three locations in northern
Spain. Our main station at Frouville is preparing fixity for
the lines that entered official testing in Germany, UK, Austria,
Spain, and Italy.
Our quality laboratory helps us to
screen each year thousands of samples for Zeleny SDS, mixograph
value, and protein content. Our new Pioneer central laboratory
in Buxtehude, Germany, is now providing quality testing for our
different programs in Europe. New tests corresponding to the
needs of end-users will be developed in this laboratory.
In the greenhouse, we continue to handle
single seed descent while we are increasing our hybrid wheat efforts,
as well as different special wheat breeding projects.
Steven Bentley effectively started in mid-April to work as a wheat breeder to manage a part
of our program. He is now living in Blois.
Jose M. Urbano and Maximiliano Hidalgo.
The 1993-94 season.
Planting conditions were good in most locations. We planted
six locations of spring bread wheat and durums, plus three additional
locations of winter wheat. Good soil moisture and mild temperatures
favored a good and healthy emergence, but severe spring drought
caused important yield losses in the southern locations without
irrigation. At the end, all locations were harvested and statistics
were acceptable even in the most affected locations.
We had a natural infection of stripe
rust in Navarra, with serious damage in the most susceptible lines.
Some leaf rust also came in April in Jerez, but too late to cause
any damage because the drought accelerated the crop. Our summer
nursery went quite well, with considerable leaf rust infection.
Varietal development.
Three new spring bread wheat varieties (Moro (114 %),
Caro (105 %), and Torero (100 %)) were registered,
and sales will start in 1995.
In addition, we submitted for registration
four new spring bread wheat varieties (two with high yield and
two with strong gluten), plus two new durums.
During 1994, we produced under field
conditions the first three hybrids with the new Hybrid System;
they will be trial-tested during 1995.
Paul Wilson
Results from the 1994 harvest showed
for the first time Pioneer varieties achieving significantly higher
yields than the U.K. check varieties. A number of these very
high-yield potential Pioneer varieties have been advanced more
rapidly to try and take advantage of this fact.
The growing season in the U.K. was generally very good; dry weather had less an impact on yields than had been expected. Quality was also very high because of a dry harvest.
For the 1995 season, Pioneer has increased
entry number at the screening stage by threefold. At the next
level, entries have been increased by twofold over 1994 figures.
The start of the 1995 season saw good
drilling conditions early, and many farmers took advantage of
the situation. Since drilling, the weather has been very mild,
and many crops are too far forward and may suffer from disease,
frost, and cold winds. Some growers have plowed up forward crops,
whereas others in mixed farming areas have let sheep graze the
excess growth.