PIONEER HI-BRED INTERNATIONAL, INC.

Worldwide Wheat Research, Windfall, IN USA.

Varietal development.

Gregory C. Marshall.

Soprano, a superior baking-quality, winter wheat cultivar was registered officially in France in 1997. The cross for Soprano was made and initially selected at our Pioneer programs in the U.S. All Pioneer cultivars currently entered in official French and U.K. registration trials are now from crosses entirely made and selected at these programs. This reflects the maturing of our breeding program at Frouville, France, and the continuing progress of our U.K. and European breeding efforts overall. Coöperative testing of elite experimental varieties from France and the U.K continues in Germany, central Europe, and Italy; and several advanced lines are entered in official registration trials in these countries.

In Canada, 25W33, a SWWW, received full registration in 1997. In January 1998, 2540 received support for full registration, and 25R26 received support for interim registration. Both 2540 and 25R26 are awned, SRWW cultivars with high yield potential. 25R26 has better than average scab resistance, but concern over its apparent high protein strength prevented it from gaining support for full registration. A precommercial, soft white wheat variety also received support for full registration in Canada.

Personnel changes.

David Moon joined the research staff as a Senior Research Associate at our St. Matthews, SC, breeding program, in August of 1997.

Ian Edwards' duties as Director of Field Crops continued to grow in 1997; he now has overall responsibility for alfalfa, microbial genetics, rice, sorghum, and wheat research. Although his Ian's involvement with wheat will remain strong, Greg Marshall is now responsible for worldwide coordination of Pioneer wheat research.

Windfall, IN, USA.

Gregory C. Marshall, William J. Laskar, Kyle J. Lively, Robert L. Clarkson, and Gary P. Off.

The 1996-97 season. Planting during the autumn of 1996 was delayed in some areas of the midwestern U.S. soft wheat region by late-maturing spring-planted crops. However, all our yield testing and nursery locations were planted near optimum dates, and favorable soil moisture promoted excellent stand establishment. Cool temperatures through the remainder of the autumn limited plant growth.

Above normal temperatures in late December were followed by a period of bitter cold in the middle of January. The low temperature dropped below 0 F eight times during a 9-day period, causing winterkill in areas lacking sufficient snow cover. Our nursery at Windfall sustained significant damage, from a combination of severe cold and ice formation in low areas. Damage to the wheat crop was most severe in an area stretching from central Indiana to northcentral Ohio.

Conditions were generally favorable for development of the wheat crop in the spring of 1997. Relatively dry conditions reduced the early-season incidence of fungal leaf diseases. Cool temperatures enhanced the development of soilborne virus symptoms, and the symptoms were still evident at heading at several of our locations in southern Indiana and Illinois.

The incidence and severity of FHB were much reduced from the two previous years and were the primary reasons that the mean yield of our Elite Test climbed from 65.9 bu/A in 1996 to 89.0 bu/A in 1997.

FHB field screening. As part of our effort to evaluate more material for reaction to FHB, we set up an artificially inoculated field nursery at Windfall. Moisture, needed to facilitate infection, was applied through a misting system set up at spike height and controlled by a simple timer plus solenoid system. Inoculum was spread using an inoculated grain spawn and by spraying a spore suspension directly onto the spikes at anthesis. We evaluated nearly 300 genotypes in replicated trials in 1997. Fusarium infection was fairly uniform across the nursery, and the full range of susceptible to resistant reactions was observed.

St. Matthews, South Carolina, USA.

Benjamin E. Edge, David E. Moon, and Robert E. Williamson.

The 1996­97 season. We experienced a mild, wet winter, followed by an extended cool spring along the East Coast area where most of our testing occurs. Stand establishment was poor in parts of eastern North Carolina, and there was more head scab and leaf blights in the area than usual. Late frosts caused partial sterility and yield losses over a wide area, especially in early-maturing cultivars. Drought conditions in Georgia, starting at about topdressing time, reduced yields severely. In the Mid-South, the cool spring allowed WSSMV to persist longer than normal, and severe symptoms could be seen well beyond heading. Our main nursery was hit by hail at selection time, hindering selection and purification and reducing the yields from our breeding nursery. Our backup nursery was relied on heavily and fortunately had excellent yields.

Cultivar development. With the loss of our home nursery and yield location, we spent a lot of time harvesting our North Carolina nursery location. We harvested only seven of the 11 locations we planted in the east. Our coöperative locations in the Mid-South were harvested with good results. Two experimentals were entered in the Uniform Southern Nursery for 1997-98.

Miscellaneous items. Just in time for the 1996-97 harvest, we obtained a Hege 160 combine equipped with a HarvestMaster GrainGage system for plot weight, harvest moisture, and test weight measurements. We were quite pleased with the way this combination worked for us; it allowed one person to harvest all our yield plots that we were not keeping for pure seed.

Staff changes. David Moon joined our team as a Senior Research Associate in August of 1997. David has an M.S. degree from the University of Florida and was a forage breeder there before coming to Pioneer.

Frouville, France.

Guy Dorlencourt, Steven Bentley, Quitterie Guerin, Elie Guillard, and Ghislaine Espinasse.

The 1996-97 growing season. Planting was completed in normal conditions without significant problems in the North. As the new year started, temperatures were as low as -12 C over a period of about 15 days, which resulted in frozen soil to a depth of 45 cm. Though there was very little winterkill, the wheat was not very healthy by the end of winter. These low temperatures also probably enhanced grey fly damage in wheat planted after sugar beets. Finally, our nursery and yield tests at Peronne were badly damaged. After artificial inoculation, we had a good development of stripe rust in our disease nursery, which did not occur in farmers' fields in the north. Powdery mildew was also present until heading, allowing for good data collection.

In the south, rainy conditions started at the beginning of November during the normal planting period, which resulted in us not planting all our planned locations. Stripe rust occurred very early in spring on susceptible varieties, but farmers, aware of the problem, sprayed fungicide for control. The seed coating 'Real' protected susceptible cultivars of this early stripe rust infection. Septoria tritici was very aggressive from north to south and was the main disease of the season, which allowed a good screening for the third year in a row. The ripening and maturity conditions were quite good in the north, resulting in good yield and quality. The south and westcentral areas were not quite as good, because rainy conditions at maturity resulted in sprouting of susceptible varieties.

Varietal development. Soprano, a superior baking-quality cultivar was registered with a yield average 103.4 % above the check level. Soprano is a selection from crosses made in the U.S. and also is adapted to Italy and Austria.

Four cultivars advanced into second-year registration. An excellent baking-quality wheat, 22R31 and two cultivars with standard baking quality, 22R33 and 22R45, advanced in the north. A good baking-quality wheat, 22R48 advanced in the south. These cultivars represent the first material selected from crosses initiated in France in 1990. Our European breeding program continues to develop. We have entered five new varieties in official tests this autumn, and our program is now delivering new lines for testing and development in northern Italy, Austria, southern Germany, and central Europe.

Yield remains our main objective, but we continue to focus on baking quality wheat and improvement of food ingredient traits. We screen on-site for Zeleny SDS, mixograph, gluten index, proteins, and NIRS, and test glutenin subunits at our electrophoresis laboratory at Aussonne.

Blisworth, Northampton, U.K.

Paul Wilson, Graham Urquhart, and Simon Short.

1996­97 season. Dry conditions prior to planting caused some problems but produced good seed beds, particularly on the heavier soils. Most yield trial sites and the breeding nursery were planted into dry soils and then had to wait at least 2 weeks for rain. Emergence was a little uneven, depending on the depth of drilling. By spring, most sites were growing evenly. The weather remained dry until June when heavy rain occurred, causing the highest lodging pressure in the U.K. in many years. Selection pressure for standing ability in both yield trials and breeding nursery was high. Trials of commercial competitor cultivars also showed some straw weakness that had not been detected previously.

Disease pressure at all trail sites was lower than in previous years. Inoculated spreader rows in the plant breeding nursery gave excellent spread of stripe rust and high selection pressure. Harvest conditions were mostly dry for the trials in the south of England, but the northern site was badly lodged by a storm shortly before harvest. Rain caused some minor problems for harvest of the selections from the nursery, but eventually all selected material was harvested successfully.

Breeding. Up to this point, the crossing program for the U.K. had been carried out at the Pioneer station in Frouville, France, due to the lack of facilities in the U.K. With the addition of suitable workspace, we were able to complete our first cycle of crossing at the Northampton station early this year.

F2 bulk plots were sown in the U.K. for the first time in 1997. All F2 plots were previously grown in France and selections made for growing from the F3 onwards in the U.K. Excellent stripe rust selection pressure was produced by the use of inoculated spreaders.

Registration. Two feed wheats, from crosses made at Pioneer's French station, advanced into second-year registration trials in the U.K., with yields of 101 % and 102 % of checks. Three feed wheats were entered into first-year registration in September 1997.

U.K. station. A new breeding barn was completed in February 1997 and will be used for all wheat breeding operations in the U.K. The barn was designed with flexibility in mind and allows the area to be used for everything from threshing, seed preparation, and vernalization to growing parents for the crossing program. Sodium lights are suspended from a freestanding frame in the barn, and the whole structure is covered with a thin sheet of plastic to maintain a sufficiently high temperature.

In May 1997, we moved to new offices shared with Pioneer's commercial staff in the U.K. The offices adjoin the breeding barn and also contain a small laboratory for quality testing.

Personnel. Simon Short joined the U.K. wheat team in June as research associate. Simon previously worked for Twyford Seeds as trials officer.