OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
Department of Crop and Soil Science, Corvallis, OR 97331-3002
USA.
J.P. Bassinette, R.S.Karow, D.K. Kelly, R.W. Knight, W.E. Kronstad, M.J. A. Larson, M.D. Moore, S.E. Rowe, and M.C. Verhoeven.
The 1994-95 crop year was one of contrasts.
After one of the driest autumns on record, the cropping season
had an above-average rainfall. Tens of thousands of acres of
winter wheat could not be seeded, because of wet field conditions.
Spring wheat acreage jumped from 58,000 harvested acres in 1994
to 114,000 in 1995. Normally, such an increase in spring acreage
would result in decreased overall production, but spring and summer
rains lead to higher yields in both winter and spring wheats.
Total 1995 acreage was 939,000 acres, with an average yield of
67.8 bu/acre. Although high rainfall was beneficial to eastern
Oregon dryland crops, western Oregon farmers encountered unexpected
problems with takeall and other diseases because of the rains.
Protein levels in soft white wheat varied by region, but were
generally at acceptable levels (< 10.5 %).
`Stephens' remains the dominant variety
in the state. The Oregon Agricultural Statistics Service estimated
Stephens acreage at 56.5 % of total wheat acreage in 1995. The
winter wheats Madsen (12.2 %) and `Gene' (6.6 %) and
the soft white spring wheat `Penawawa' (7.4 %) are
the only other varieties to occupy more than 5 % of state acreage.
Agronomic research being conducted in the state
includes Septoria tritici and Septoria nodorum management
trials, nitrogen management trials in both eastern and western
Oregon, seed treatment evaluations, and numerous weed control
studies.
The 1995 crop year saw a large increase in experimental
plot acreage. The acreage of material at our major testing sites
increased from 26 to 41 acres. The reason for this was twofold.
First, the method of handling segregating material changed.
Prior to 1995, all F4 and F5 populations were the result of bulked
heads. In 1995, the heads pulled from F3s and F4s were maintained
as head rows and became the F4 and F5 head rows. Thus, where
once three rows, 20 feet long, represented a selection, now there
were 12 to 14 head rows, each 10 feet long. Second, the hard
white winter portion of the program had grown considerably and
crosses made specifically for that category were now entering
the F4 and F5 stages of development, which further added to the
increase in acreage.
In 1995, two new people came on the project: John
Bassinette, who received his Master's degree in agronomy
at the University of Idaho, and Mark Larson, who is working on
his Master's degree in plant breeding and genetics at Oregon
State University. John is primarily responsible for agronomic
and special studies. In the fall of 1995, a bunt nursery was
established at Pendleton, a winterhardiness nursery was planted
on a north slope near Pendleton, and two winter durum trials to
determine optimum fertilizer and seeding rate also were established
at that site. Mark Larson's primary responsibility is
with the international aspect of the program. He must oversee
the selection, harvest, and distribution of The International
`Spring x Winter' Screening Nursery. He also is in
charge of our cooperative effort with Turkey/CIMMYT for sending
out the FAWWON to the US and Canadian cooperators. As well as
handling the international aspects of the program, Mark plays
a major role in the computerized database management of all our
field books and data.
Mike Moore, who previously held John Bassinette's
position, is now at the Columbia Basin Agricultural Research Center.
There he has assumed interim responsibility for the club wheat
breeding program. This program, once independent of the wheat
breeding and genetics program at Corvallis, has come under its
mantle. Last season the majority of the club wheat crosses were
made in Corvallis under Dr. Kronstad's direction. The
segregating material was sent to Mike for screening in its area
of adaptation. Mike and his crew also are responsible for Russian
wheat aphid screening and for field assistance at the Pendleton
screening site.
For the past 2 years, under the auspices of the
USDA and USAID, the project has developed ties with cereal breeding
personnel and institutes in the Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania,
and Estonia. Six breeders from these countries came for the harvest
in 1994. In June of 1995, a symposium was held in Riga, Latvia
(Baltic States Cereal Breeders and Producers Symposia). In July
of 1995, another wheat breeder, Vija Strazdina, also from Latvia,
came to Oregon to make selections for her program.
Publications.
Mou B and Kronstad WE. 1994. Duration and rate
of grain filling in selected winter wheat populations: I. Inheritance.
Crop Sci 34:833-837.
Mou B, Kronstad WE, and Saulescu NN. 1994. Grain
filling parameters and protein content in selected winter wheat
populations: II. Associations. Crop Sci 34:838-841.
Costa JM and Kronstad WE. 1994. Association of
grain protein concentration and selected traits in hard red winter
wheat populations in the Pacific N.W. Crop Sci 34:1234-1239.
Saulescu NN and Kronstad WE. 1995. Detection of
genotypic differences in early growth response to water stress
in wheat using the snow and tingey system. Crop Sci 35:928-931.
Saulescu NN and Kronstad WE. 1995. Growth simulation
outputs for detection of differential cultivar response to environmental
factors. Crop Sci 35:773-778.
Camacho-Casas MA, Kronstad WE, and Scharen AL. 1995.
Septoria tritici resistance and associations in
a wheat cross. Crop Sci 35:971-976.
SOUTH DAKOTA
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY, AND USDA-ARS NORTHERN GRAIN INSECT RESEARCH LABORATORY (NGIRL)
Plant Science and Biology/Microbiology Departments, Brookings,
SD 57007, USA.
Personnel changes.
Dr. Yue Jin joined the faculty of the Plant Science
Department as an assistant professor of plant pathology. Dr.
Jin received an M.S. degree in applied statistics from the Department
of Statistics and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in plant pathology from
the Department of Plant Pathology at North Dakota State University.
Following graduate studies, he remained at NDSU as a postdoctoral
fellow, conducting research on sources of resistance to leaf and
stem rust in barley, biology of barley crown rust, and pathogenic
variation in the crown rust complex. His research efforts at
SDSU will focus on epidemiology and control of fungal diseases
of small grain cereals, with primary emphasis on diseases of spring
and winter wheat.
Dr. C.H. Chen has retired after 29 years at South
Dakota State University in the Biology/Microbiology department.
In recent years, his research has focused on the development
and improvement of a wheat anther culture system for spring wheat.
Dr. Don Kenefick retired from service to the Plant
Science Department, effective September 1995. For nearly 36 years,
Dr. Kenefick worked diligently to characterize physiological mechanisms
associated with winter freeze stress.
Dr. Robert Kieckhefer retired from service to the
USDA-ARS Northern Grain Insects Research Laboratory, effective
January 1996. Dr. Kieckhefer was recognized widely as an authority
on cereal aphid biology and ecology and was instrumental in characterizing
yield loss-thresholds for cereal aphid infestations in the northern
Great Plains. This research formed the basis for integrated pest
management (IPM) strategies and programs currently used across
this region for effective cereal aphid management.
J.C. Rudd, B.G. Farber, C.H. Chen, S.S.A. Rizvi, Y. Jin, R. Yu, F. Aldana, K.R. Ruden, and S. Zhu.
Production. The 1995
production of Hard Red Spring Wheat in South Dakota was 33.6 million
bushels from 1.2 million acres. The harvested acreage is 39 %
less than that in 1994 and is the lowest since 1972. The average
yield was 28 bu/acre, which is equal to the 5-year average. Because
of a cool, wet spring, most of the spring wheat was planted late
and many fields were never planted. Only 50 % of the acreage
was planted by 20 May, as compared to the 5-year average of 20
April. Considering the late planting, yields were better than
expected. Yield loss because of disease appeared to be less than
the losses reported in 1993 and 1994. Durum production in the
state was 896,000 bushels from 32,000 acres, with an average grain
yield of 28 bu/acre.
New Release. `SD0010'
hard red spring wheat is being released as `Oxen'.
Originating from Pioneer Hi-bred International, the name Oxen
was chosen to symbolize the success attainable when public and
private industry work together as a `team'. The Pioneer
designation of SD0010 is SBF0089 from the cross `SBY336A/SBZ004A'.
The pedigree of SBY336A is `Waldron//Lundi/Justin/3/Arg
5/4/Pioneer line W6744' and the pedigree of SBZ004A is
`Pioneer Variety 2369/Len'. Oxen is anticipated to
be submitted for cultivar protection under the Plant Variety Protection
Act, and Title V of the Federal Seed Act. Oxen is an awned, early
maturing, semidwarf, hard red spring wheat. In comparison to
2375, SD0010 is higher yielding, similar in maturity, slightly
shorter, better in straw strength, and less prone to shattering.
Bushel weight is less than that of 2375, but greater than that
of Prospect. Oxen appears to be widely adapted and has performed
well in all areas tested in South Dakota, Minnesota, and North
Dakota. Oxen is resistant and moderately resistant to the prevalent
races of leaf rust and stem rust, respectively. Based on performance
data, the Fusarium head blight resistance of Oxen is similar to
that of Butte 86 and slightly less than that of 2375. SD0010
is a strong mixing wheat with medium protein content. Protein
content is similar to 2375 and Butte 86. The milling and bread-making
qualities of Oxen are equal to those of Grandin (1994-95, Wheat
Quality Council, Hard Spring Wheat Technical Committee).
High temperature tolerance.
A genetic study of high temperature tolerance in spring wheat
was completed this year. This was a joint study with CIMMYT and
involved growth chamber studies and field trials in South Dakota,
USA, and Obregon, Mexico. The heritability of yield components
was more stable than the heritability of yield or any of the calculated
heat stress indexes. At each planting date-location, the wheat
was stressed at different growth stages. The genotype that could
best tolerate or compensate for the stress at that growth stage
yielded better at that particular site. High temperature tolerance
was concluded to be related to the growth stage in which the stress
occurs, i.e., the capacity for yield component production was
more heritable than yield or heat tolerance. (F. Aldana, J.C.
Rudd)
Fusarium head blight screening.
With the objective of developing a greenhouse technique to screen
large numbers of segregating populations, various inoculation
techniques were compared for accuracy and efficiency. The techniques
compared were single-floret inoculation, mass spray, and inoculation
with colonized seed. For all treatments, the plants were grown
in soil-beds, and misting was provided for 30 seconds every 2
hours from the time of the first inoculation until the last symptoms
were recorded. The single-floret inoculation method was the most
precise method used and consisted of placing a single drop of
inoculum in the central floret of each spike at anthesis and recording
disease symptoms 14 and 21 days after inoculation. Although the
single-floret inoculation method works very well, it is time-consuming
and, thus, the number of lines that can be evaluated is limited.
With the mass spray technique, the plants were sprayed with a
spore suspension beginning at anthesis of the earliest genotype
and continuing three times per week until disease symptoms were
recorded on the latest-maturing genotype. Inoculum was provided
in the third method by spreading colonized seed in the greenhouse
beds at weekly intervals. For the mass-inoculation treatments,
visual symptoms were recorded 21 days after anthesis of the particular
genotype. The symptoms produced by the mass inoculation were
correlated highly with the symptoms from the single-floret technique
(0.76 for mass spray and 0.72 for colonized seed).
Based on the above findings, we now have a 2,000-sq
ft greenhouse dedicated entirely to screening for Fusarium head
blight resistance. Hills (5 seed per hill, hills 15 cm apart)
are planted in soil-beds, misting is provided beginning at anthesis,
and inoculum is provided by both spraying and spreading colonized
seed. We can evaluate 4,500 hills in each greenhouse cycle (Autumn
cycle is September-December, and spring cycle is January-April).
(J.C. Rudd, S.S.A. Rizvi, Y. Jin)
Wheat anther culture.
In a joint project with Dr. Chen, we are evaluating anther culture
as a tool to select for tan spot resistance. Results indicate
that the addition of toxin produced by the tan spot fungus to
the anther culture medium can be used to select for resistance
to the toxin in segregating populations. This research has allowed
us to use anther culture to transfer toxin resistance to different
genetic backgrounds much more rapidly than with conventional breeding.
We have now confirmed that plants resistant to this toxin also
have a higher level of resistance to the tan spot disease. Approximately
2,000 double haploid lines were evaluated in 1995 field trials.
(R. Yu, S. Zhu, C.H. Chen, J.C. Rudd)
Publications.
Farber BG and Rudd JC. 1995. Mechanical mass selection
for test weight in hard red spring wheat. In: Proc 20th
Hard Red Winter Wheat Workers Conference, 24-27 January, 1995,
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Rizvi SSA, Fisher L, Rudd J, and Gallenberg D. 1995.
Resistance of spring wheat cultivars/lines to head blight (scab)
in greenhouse tests. North Central Division American Phytopathological
Society. 20-22 June, 1995. Brookings, South Dakota.
Aldana F. 1995. High temperature tolerance of eight
spring wheat lines of diverse origin. Ph.D. dissertation. South
Dakota State Univ, Brookings.
Ruden B. 1995. Measurement of osmoregulation of
the coleoptiles of spring wheat as a screening technique for drought
tolerance potential. M.S. thesis. South Dakota State Univ, Brookings.
Yu R. 1995. Rapid selection for tan spot resistance
through anther culture of spring wheat F1 Hybrids. Ph.D. dissertation.
South Dakota State Univ, Brookings.