NEBRASKA

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA AND THE USDA-ARS

Department of Agronomy, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA.

P.S. Baenziger, C.J. Peterson (USDA-ARS), R.A. Graybosch (USDA-ARS), D.R. Shelton, L.A. Nelson,

D.D. Baltensperger, D.J. Lyons, G.L. Hein, R.C. French (USDA-ARS), T. Weeks (USDA-ARS), and J.E. Watkins.

The 1996 Nebraska wheat crop was estimated at 1,990,000 MT, which represented a 2.29 MT/ha state average yield on 870,000 harvested hectares. This crop was less than the 1995 crop of 2,340,000 MT (2.76 MT/ha), but considerably better than early spring expectations. The 1996 crop was planted in generally dry soil and had only average establishment. Continued dryness coupled with blowing injured fields throughout Nebraska, including the southeast and southcentral where blowing is generally not a problem. Winterkilling due to cold winter temperatures also was generally a problem throughout Nebraska on winter-tender lines. The spring was initially dry, but then had good rains. Those fields that survived the winter and early drought finished very well. In general, diseases were low in western Nebraska with soilborne mosaic virus continuing to be a major problem in southeastern Nebraska and stem rust being a major problem in southeast and southcentral Nebraska. Late spring and summer had below normal temperatures, and the crop was later than normal. Arapahoe continued to be the most popular cultivar (planted on 32.9 % of our hectarage).

New cultivars.

Windstar has been released by the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station; the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station; and the Northern Plains Area, Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Windstar (formerly NE90625) is an increase of a hard red winter wheat F3-derived line from the cross `TX79A2729//Caldwell/ Brule field sel # 6/3/Siouxland'. Windstar is an awned, white-glumed cultivar and in the field is most similar to Rawhide and Siouxland. The canopy is moderately open and upright. The flag leaf is erect and twisted at boot stage. The foliage is blue-green, with a waxy bloom at anthesis. The leaves are pubescent. The spike is tapering in shape, moderately long to long, and medium-dense. Under some environmental conditions, the spike may have a clavate shape the same as that of Rawhide and Centura. The glume is short to midlong and narrow to midwide, and the glume shoulder is sloping to square. The beak is moderately short to medium with an acuminate tip. The spike is held erect to inclined at maturity, and the glumes and straw have a golden color. Variants to be expected include: a) taller plants (7-15 cm) at a frequency of less than 1 in 1,000 that occasionally have oblique shoulders and moderately short beaks and b) red chaffed spikes at a frequency of less than 1 in 20,000. Kernels are red-colored, hard-textured, and ovate. The kernel has no collar, rounded cheeks, midsize germ, midsize brush of medium length, and a narrow and shallow crease. Windstar is a taller, semidwarf wheat with medium to late maturity. The cultivar is 1-day later than Arapahoe, 3-days later than Alliance, and 3-days later than Pronghorn. Windstar has a short coleoptile, similar to that of Alliance and shorter than that of Arapahoe and Pronghorn. Windstar is 1 inch shorter than Arapahoe, 2 inches shorter than Pronghorn, similar in height to Niobrara and Rawhide, and 4 inches taller than Vista. Windstar has moderately strong straw strength, better than that of Scout 66, Pronghorn, Alliance, Niobrara, and Arapahoe and similar to that of Rawhide. Windstar has exhibited moderate resistance to stem rust (contains Sr6 and Sr24) and moderate susceptibility to leaf rust (Lr24) and WSMV. It is susceptible to the RWA and the Great Plains biotype of Hessian fly and to soilborne mosaic virus. The winter hardiness of Windstar is comparable to that of other winter wheat cultivars adapted and commonly grown in Nebraska and South Dakota. Windstar tends to have a slightly lower test weight, similar to that of Alliance, Niobrara, and Vista, but less than that of Pronghorn. The recommended growing area for Windstar, based on current information, is the dryland wheat production areas of the panhandle of Nebraska and western South Dakota. The main advantage for Windstar when compared to other available wheat varieties is its consistent high yield performance in dryland production. On the basis of its pedigree, Windstar would be a complementary wheat to every variety currently grown in Nebraska and South Dakota, with the exception of Siouxland.

Windstar was tested by the Nebraska Wheat Quality Laboratory for large-scale milling and baking properties from 1990 to 1995. The average wheat protein content of Windstar was less than that of Arapahoe and similar to that of Scout 66. The average flour extraction on the Buhler Laboratory Mill for the experimental line was less than that of the check varieties. The flour ash content was greater than that of Scout 66 and similar to that of Arapahoe. The average flour protein content for the experimental line was less than that of the check varieties. Dough mixing properties for Windstar are stronger than those of the check cultivars. Average baking absorption was similar for the experimental line and check varieties. The average loaf volume of Windstar was greater the check cultivars. The scores for the internal crumb grain and texture and external appearance were good or very good, which were superior to those of Arapahoe and Scout 66. The overall end-use quality characteristics for Windstar should be acceptable to the milling and baking industries. Though Windstar will have breeder, foundation, registered, and certified seed classes, the registered seed class will not be salable.

Increase of new experimental lines.

One experimental line is in large-scale increase for possible release in 1997. In addition, two lines that were under small increase for 1996 were given to Kansas for further testing and possible release on the basis that their performance in Nebraska were considered too variable under our conditions, but may be useful in other parts of the Great Plains.

The experimental line under large scale increase is NE92662. NE92662 was derived from the cross `Redland/NE82419'. The pedigree of NE82419 is `Trapper//CMN/OT/3/CIMMYT /Scout/4/ Buckskin sib/Homestead'. NE92662 is a white-chaffed, awned, medium-early, taller semidwarf wheat (slightly taller than Redland and similar in height to Arapahoe) with good straw strength (similar to that of Redland and superior to that of Arapahoe, Alliance, Niobrara, and Pronghorn). In the first year of testing in the state variety trial (1996), its dryland grain yield was less than that of Alliance and 2137, but was superior to yields of Arapahoe, Windstar, Niobrara, Pronghorn, and Redland. NE92662 has medium to large kernels, with average test weight and protein content. NE92662 is moderately resistant to stem rust (contains genes Sr5, Sr6, Sr17, and Sr24), moderately susceptible to leaf rust (similar to Redland) and to the Great Plains biotype of Hessian fly (may be heterogeneous for the Marquillo-Kawvale resistance; it is more susceptible than Redland), and susceptible to WSMV. This line may have some field tolerance to wheat soilborne mosaic virus. In 4 years of testing, NE92622 had an average wheat protein content similar to that of Arapahoe and greater than that of Scout 66. The dough-mixing properties are stronger than those of Arapahoe and Scout 66. Average loaf volumes for this line are greater than those of the check varieties. Based on current information, NE92622 should be acceptable to the milling and baking industry. Additional testing is needed to determine if NE92662 is worthy of release.

The two other lines are NE90476 (`Bennett/Brule 83' composite) and NE92458 (`OK83201/Redland'). Both are semidwarf wheats that performed well in the advanced trials and in the Southern Regional Performance Nursery. NE90476 is moderately resistant to stem rust (contains genes Sr5, Sr6, Sr17, and Sr24), moderately susceptible to leaf rust, WSMV, and to the Great Plains biotype of Hessian fly (may be heterogeneous for the Marquillo-Kawvale resistance; it is more susceptible than Redland), and susceptible to WSMV. NE92458 is moderately resistant to stem rust (contains genes Sr5, Sr6, Sr17, and Sr24) and to the Great Plains biotype of Hessian fly, moderately susceptible to leaf rust, and susceptible to WSMV. These lines are currently being tested in Kansas to determine if they may have utility there.

Wheat transformation and tissue culture studies.

A. Mitra, J. van Etten, R. French, P. Staswick, J. Morris, T. Elthon, P. Blum, and S. Baenziger.

After successful grant writing efforts, a team of scientists at the University of Nebraska has developed an effort on wheat and soybean transformation. The key goals for transformation in wheat will be disease and stress (mainly heat) resistance. As part of this effort, Ms. Shirley Sato was hired to work on wheat transformation protocols. We also have looked at optimizing the culture conditions for the transformation of Bobwhite, the main wheat used in transformation and surveyed our winter wheat germplasm to see if there are lines that may be equally useful in wheat transformation as Bobwhite. Preliminary indications are that there may be one wheat, and we have putatively transformed triticale. (work done by Dr. Jan Rybczynski, a Fulbright visiting professor, and Mr. Kim Kyung-Moon)

Chromosome substitution lines.

M. Maroof Shah, Yang Yen, P.S. Baenziger, B. Moreno-Sevilla, and N. Budak; and R. Bruns and J. Reeder, AgriPro Seeds, Inc., Berthoud, CO.

Field evaluations were completed of the recombinant Cheyenne (CNN)-Wichita (WI) chromosome 3A lines (a WI chromosome shown to increase yield by 15 % in the CNN background). Fifty WI-CNN recombinant chromosome 3A lines in CNN background [CNN(R3A)] were evaluated in a multilocation field trials in the 1993-94, 1994-95, and 1995-96 seasons. Our preliminary results indicate significant differences among the recombinant chromosome lines for grain yield, 1,000-kernel weight, plant height, and anthesis date. Nonsignificant differences were identified for kernel/spike and tiller/m2. Significant genotype by environment interactions were detected for kernel/spike and tiller/m2 which explains why the lines were not significant for these traits. Distinctive classes (e.g., bimodality) were found for anthesis date, which indicates that a single gene controls anthesis date, but none of the other agronomic traits could be similarly classified. All of the early lines generally were similar to WI for plant height, and most of the later lines were similar to CNN in plant height. However, two later lines were shorter, which may indicate a crossover between linked genes for anthesis date and plant height. The other traits seem to be predominantly independent of anthesis date. This result is important because one hypothesis for the multiple traits affected by chromosome 3A was that the gene(s) for earliness had pleiotropic effects on grain yield and seed weight (Berke et al. 1992a). Our data indicated that this does not appear to be the case.

The evaluation of the F1 hybrids between substitution lines and the recurrent parent was completed.. The purpose of this study was to determine if the QTLs on 3A and 6A exhibited additive or dominant gene action, which could result in heterosis, because these kinds of gene action cannot be studied with chromosome substitution or recombinant lines due to their homozygosity. The hybrids of `CNN (WI3A) x CNN', `CNN (WI6A) x CNN', `WI (CNN3A) x WI', and `WI (CNN6A) x WI' were made in cooperation with Agripro Seeds, Inc. Six hybrids, four parental substitution lines, and seed of CNN and WI produced in Lincoln and Colorado (to monitor any effects of seed source differences) were grown in a randomized complete block design with two replications at two locations for 2 years. Our results showed that the previously reported deleterious effects of WI (CNN3A) and WI (CNN6A) relative to WI, and the beneficial effects of CNN (WI3A) and CNN (WI6A) lines relative to CNN were generally repeated in these environments. Three of the four hybrids were not significantly different from the midparent value for all of the measured traits indicating additive gene action. Some hybrids also were not significantly different from one parent, indicating the possibility of dominant gene action. Midparent heterosis was found for grain yield in one hybrid exhibiting dominant gene action for one trait.

A future goal of this research is to screen for polymorphic molecular markers on the 3A and 6A chromosomes. The screening has been initiated in cooperation with Dr. Kulvinder Gill, a recently hired molecular cytogeneticist at the University of Nebraska, and Dr. Yang Yen, a biochemical cytogeneticist at South Dakota State University.

Effect of T1AL-1RS on agronomic performance.

E. Espitia-Rangel, P.S. Baenziger, R.A. Graybosch, C.J. Peterson, and D.R. Shelton.

Previously, Dr. Benjamin Moreno-Sevilla, now with North Dakota State University, had shown that lines containing T1BL-1RS from the cross `Siouxland x Ram' were 9 % higher yielding than lines with 1B or lines heterogeneous for T1BL-1RS, but that T1BL-1RS and 1B lines derived from the heterogeneous cultivar Rawhide (a variety containing 1B and T1BL-1RS plants) were similar for grain yield. The T1AL-1RS translocation also is reported to enhance grain yield. A replicated study conducted by graduate student Mr. Eduardo Espitia-Rangel using Nekota a seed increase of Niobrara (varieties heterogeneous for 1A and T1AL-1RS) for future replicated studies have been initiated to determine if T1AL-1RS has beneficial effects for yield. To date, T1AL-1RS in the Nekota background has no yield benefit.

Wheat leaf rust virulence in Nebraska.

John E. Watkins and Susan S. Rutledge, Department of Plant Pathology; and P. Stephen Baenziger, Department of Agronomy.

In 1995 and 1996, 120 and 156 single uredinium isolates of P. recondita f.sp. tritici were characterized for virulence to 16 near-isogenic wheat differentials in a Thatcher genetic background. Field samples were collected from four wheat-growing regions in Nebraska in 1995 and three in 1996. Twenty-four virulence phenotypes were identified in 1995 and 25 were identified in 1996. Virulence phenotypes MBR-10,18 (Lr1, Lr3, Lr3ka, Lr11, Lr30, Lr10, Lr18) and MDR-10,18 (Lr1, Lr3, Lr24, Lr3ka, Lr11, Lr30, Lr10, Lr18) were the most prevalent, with each comprising 15.8 % of the isolates characterized in 1995. Twenty-seven percent of the 1995 isolates were virulent on 10 or more host genes. No virulence was detected to Lr16 and Lr17, whereas all isolates were virulent to Lr1, Lr3, Lr10, Lr18, and Lr30. Virulence phenotype MBR-10,18 was most prevalent in 1996 and comprised 18.6 % of the isolates characterized. Thirty-eight percent of the 1996 isolates were virulent on 10 or more host genes with all isolates being virulent on Lr1, Lr3, and Lr10. No virulence was found to Lr9 and Lr19. New virulence phenotypes were detected in 1996 that were not detected in 1995. In 1996, virulence was higher on Lr2a, Lr16, Lr17, and Lr21 and lower on Lr3ka, Lr18, Lr24, Lr26, and Lr30. About 40 % of the wheat acreage in Nebraska is planted to cultivars with Lr16.

The table summarizes the virulence frequency of leaf rust isolates collected in Nebraska since 1992. The number of isolates virulent on Lr3ka, Lr11, and Lr17 has increased, whereas the number of isolates virulent on Lr24 and Lr26 decreased from 82 % and 53 %, respectively, in 1992 to 34 % and 1 %, respectively, in 1996. This probably reflects changes in the distribution of cultivars away from those having Lr24 and Lr26.

Table 1. Virulence of the 1992, 1993, 1995, and 1996

Puccinia recondita f. sp. tritici populations in Nebraska to 16

near-isogenic wheat differentials

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Virulence frequency1 of leaf rust isolates by year

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Lr gene 1992 1993 1995 1996

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Lr1 100 100 100 100

Lr2a 85 77 27 55

Lr2c 85 80 40 55

Lr3 100 100 100 100

Lr3ka 0 15 93 85

Lr9 0 1 9 0

Lr10 100 100 100 100

Lr11 73 74 96 97

Lr16 0 0 0 4

Lr17 9 10 0 30

Lr18 100 92 100 94

Lr19 0 0 --2 0

Lr21 57 29 15 27

Lr24 82 60 58 34

Lr26 53 40 14 1

Lr30 53 63 100 96

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1 Represents the percentage of isolates collected that year.

2 Lr19 was not included in the 1995 data, because of a seed

impurity problem.

Wheat Quality Laboratory web page.

D.R. Shelton, W.J. Park, and M. Shipman.

The Nebraska Wheat Quality Lab's home page on the World Wide Web continues to receive favorable comments. The goals and functions of the lab, and information on the Nebraska Wheat Board and the Nebraska Wheat Growers Association are presented. Over 4,000 hits have been recorded for this page during the past year. Queries about wheat quality were received from the United States and worldwide. The internet address is: <http://www.ianr.unl.edu/ianr/agronomy/wheatlab/index.htm>.

Personnel.

Dr. Jan J. Rybczynski, a Fulbright Visiting Scholar, joined the project to work on triticale and wheat tissue culture and transformation. Ms. Shirley Sato joined the wheat transformation project. Mr. Soleman Al-Otayak, a former M.S. student, returned to begin his Ph.D. program. Mr. Bekele Geleta Abeyo began his Ph.D. program. Dr. Stefan Sahlstrom joined the Nebraska Wheat Quality Lab in August, 1996, for one year. Dr. Sahlstrom is a cereal chemist from MATFORSK, As, Norway. Dr. Woojoon Park has accepted the position of Technical Marketing Specialist at U. S. Wheat Associates/Seoul starting on 1 April, 1997. Dr. Park was instrumental in developing protocols for the evaluation of wheat lines for Asian rolled noodle quality. Dr. Kulvinder Gill joined the faculty of the University of Nebraska in 1996 as a molecular cytogeneticist, specializing in wheat cytogenetics. Dr. Gill replaces Dr. Shawn Kaeppler, who resigned to take a position with the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Troy Weeks joined the USDA-ARS Wheat, Sorghum, and Forage Unit at Lincoln in the autumn of 1995. Dr. Weeks' work includes research on transformation systems for both sorghum and wheat. Dr. Weeks was previously with the ARS program at Albany, CA, conducting research on wheat transformation. Dr. Drake Stenger has recently accepted a position as research virologist with the USDA-ARS Wheat, Sorghum, and Forage Unit at Lincoln, NE. Dr. Stenger's research will focus on molecular biology and control of WSMV infections in wheat.

Publications.

Baenziger PS, Moreno-Sevilla B, Peterson CJ, Schmidt JW, Shelton DR, Baltensperger DD, Nelson LA, McVey DV, Watkins JE, Hatchett JH, and Graybosch RA. 1996. Registration of 'Niobrara' Wheat. Crop Sci 36:803.

Baenziger PS and Gill KS. 1996. How biotechnology is changing plant breeding. In: National Plant Breeding Study Workshop: Background Papers (Frey KJ ed). 1-3 October, 1996, St. Louis, MO. pp. 1-9.

Baenziger PS. 1996. Reflections on doubled haploids in plant breeding. In: In vitro haploid production in higher plants. Vol. 1: Fundamental aspects and methods (Jain SM, Sopory SK, and Veileux RE eds). Kluwer Academic Publishers, Norwell, MA, U.S.A. pp.35-48.

Bruns R and Peterson CJ. 1997. Yield and stability factors associated with hybrid wheat. Proc 5th Inter Wheat Conf, 10-14 June, 1996, Ankara, Turkey. Turkish National Wheat Program and CIMMYT. In Press.

Graybosch RA, Peterson CJ, and Mattern PJ. 1997. Registration of hard red winter wheats possessing Glu-1A null alleles. Crop Sci (In press).

Haley SD, Moreno-Sevilla B, Baenziger PS, Peterson CJ, Schmidt JW, Shelton DR, Baltensperger DD, Nelson LA, McVey DL, Watkins JE, Hatchett JH, and Graybosch RS. 1996. Registration of 'Nekota' Wheat. Crop Sci 36:803-804.

Lookhart GL, Bean SR, Graybosch RA, Chung OK, Moreno-Sevilla B, and Baenziger PS. 1996. Identification by high-performance capillary electrophoresis of wheat lines containing the 1AL-1RS and the 1LB-1RS translocation. Cereal Chem 73:547-550.

McNeil JE, French R, Hein GL, Baenziger PS, and Eskridge KM. 1996. Characterization of genetic variability among natural populations of wheat streak mosaic virus. Phytopathology 86:1222-1227.

Park WJ, Shelton DR, Peterson CJ, Martin TJ, Kachman SD, and RL Wehling. 1997. Variation in polyphenol oxidase activity and quality characteristics among hard wheat and hard red winter wheat samples. Cereal Chem January/February 1997.

Park WJ and Shelton DR. 1996. Effects of wheat variety and growing location on asian raw noodle color. Cereal Foods World 41:601.

Park WJ and Shelton DR. 1996. Relationship of wheat and flour ash contents with Asian rolled noodle color over storage time. Cereal Foods World 41:572.

Peterson CJ, Graybosch RA, Shelton DR, and Baenziger PS. 1997. Baking quality of hard winter wheat: response of cultivars to environments in the Great Plains. Proc 5th Inter Wheat Conf, 10-14 June, 1996, Ankara, Turkey. Turkish National Wheat Program and CIMMYT. In Press.

Peterson CJ, Moffatt JM, and Erickson JR. 1997 Yield stability of hybrid vs pureline hard winter wheats in regional performance trials. Crop Sci 37:116-120.

Yang Y, Baenziger PS, Bruns R, Reeder J, Moreno-Sevilla B, and Budak N. 1997. Agronomic performance of hybrids between cultivars and chromosome substitution lines. Crop Sci (in press).


NORTH DAKOTA


NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY

Plant Sciences Department, Loftsgard Hall, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105-5051, USA.

J.A. Anderson, B. Moreno-Sevilla, R.W. Stack, and R.C. Frohberg.

Personnel changes.

Dr. James Anderson resigned his position as Assistant Professor of Plant Sciences in July to accept a position as Research Geneticist with the USDA-ARS in Pullman, Washington.

Hard red winter wheat breeding project.

The HRWW breeding program was discontinued with the exception that evaluation of lines currently in yield trials will continue in statewide trials. Early generation materials were distributed to hard red winter breeding programs at Montana State University, the University of Nebraska, and South Dakota State University. (Anderson)

Mapping Fusarium head blight-resistance genes.

RFLP analysis of a recombinant inbred (RI) population consisting of 112 lines from the cross `Sumai 3/Stoa' is in progress to identify DNA markers associated with resistance to FHB. A total of 520 low-copy DNA clones were screened between the two parents using four restriction endonucleases. A total of 243 clones were mapped, yielding 312 polymorphic loci. Seventeen markers significantly associated with FHB resistance formed eight linkage groups, with the resistance loci derived from Sumai 3 for four of these groups. A multiple regression model formed by seven significant markers explained 41 % of the variation for FHB resistance in this population. (Moreno-Sevilla, Anderson, Stack, and Frohberg)

Publications.

Faris JD, Anderson JA, Francl LJ, and Jordahl JG. 1996. Chromosomal location of a gene conditioning insensitivity in wheat to a necrosis-inducing culture filtrate from Pyrenophora tritici-repentis. Phytopath 86:459-463.

Riede CR, Francl LJ, Anderson JA, Jordahl JG, and Meinhardt SW. 1996. Additional sources of resistance to tan spot of wheat. Crop Sci 36:771-777.

Riede CR and Anderson JA. 1996. Linkage of RFLP markers to an aluminum tolerance gene in wheat. Crop Sci 36:905-909.

Faris JD, Anderson JA, Francl LJ, and Jordahl JG. 1996. Molecular mapping of resistance to tan spot of wheat caused by Pyrenophora tritici-repentis. In: Plant Genome IV Abstracts, San Diego, CA. p. 58.

Campbell KG, Gualberto DG, Bergman CJ, Anderson JA, Hareland GA, Finney PL, and Sorrells ME. 1996. Genetic analysis of kernel traits in a hard x soft wheat cross. Agron Abst p. 90.

Moreno-Sevilla B, Anderson JA, Stack RW, and Frohberg RC. 1996. Molecular mapping of Fusarium head blight resistance genes in wheat. Agron Abstr p. 160.

Mesfin A, Frohberg RC, and Anderson JA. 1996. RFLP mapping of QTL associated with grain prwith grain protrain protein content in wheat. Agron Abstr p. 161. go to next document