MONTANA
MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITYDepartment of Plant Science and Entomology, Bozemen, MT 59717, USA.
1998 wheat crop.
L.E. Talbert, P.L. Bruckner, and W.L. Morrill.
Low moisture conditions in the autumn of 1997 resulted in the
smallest planted winter wheat crop since 1941, totaling 1.4 million
acres. Winter conditions were dry with little snow cover. However,
mild temperatures resulted in little winter wheat stand loss.
Approximately 3.8 million acres of spring wheat and 450,000 acres
of durum were planted in the spring of 1998. Crop conditions were
fair through much of the growing season, but hot, dry weather
in early July hastened crop maturity. Winter wheat production
was 48.75 million bushels with an average yield of 39 bu/acre.
Spring wheat yields averaged 30 bu/acre resulting in 108 million
bushels, the third largest spring wheat crop on record. Leading
winter wheat varieties were Neeley, Rocky, Tiber, Vanguard, and
Redwin. Leading spring wheat varieties were McNeal, Amidon, Westbred
Rambo, Ernest, and Fortuna.
Spring wheat program.
Luther Talbert, Susan Lanning, Nancy Blake, Jamie Sherman, Chris
Brey, Gail Sharp, and Arunrut Vanichanon.
Variety release. The newest HRSW we have released is Scholar,
named in honor of the scores of undergraduate students who have
worked for the breeding program. Scholar has moderate resistance
to the wheat stem sawfly, very good yield potential, and excellent
protein. Baking quality is good. Additionally, the HWSW MTHW9420
has been recommended for exclusive release. MTHW9420 has good
yield potential and moderate protein levels. Our future efforts
are directed toward high quality hard red and hard white spring
wheats. Resistance to the wheat stem sawfly is a major breeding
objective.
Introgression of barley genes into wheat. Dr. Jamie Sherman
is heading a project to introgress barley chromosome segments
into wheat. Through the use of the Chinese Spring ph deletion
stocks, along with a series of STS-PCR markers, several recombinant
lines containing segments of barley chromosomes 4 and 7 have been
identified.
Evolution of wheat. We have used cloning and sequencing
capabilities conferred by STS-PCR primer sets to clone several
low copy DNA sequences from wheat and its progenitors. Sequence
results suggest that the B genome is not a mixture of the genomes
from extant S-genome diploids. Additional sequence comparisons
suggest that hexaploid wheat may have formed more than one time.
Wheat stem sawfly research.
Wendell Morrill, David Weaver, and Justin Runyon (Department of
Entomology).
The wheat stem sawfly continues to be the most destructive insect
pest in the state. Winter wheat is heavily infested, but late-planted
spring wheat fields commonly escape attack if stem elongation
occurs after termination of the wasp flight. Wasps prefer to lay
eggs in stems with the largest diameters. Host plant utilization
is optimized by selectively fertilizing eggs that produce female
individuals in the largest or most favorable stems. Female wasps
that develop in the largest stems are also the most productive.
Sawfly larvae are attacked by two species of parasitic wasps (Hymenoptera:
Braconidae). Levels of parasitism in individual fields range from
10 to over 90 %. A project (Western Regional IPM) designed to
determine the effects of production practices on parasitoid success
is underway. Comparisons will include reduced tillage versus conventional
tillage of summer fallow, field size, and the long-term effect
of planting solid-stemmed cultivars. Data will include sawfly
infestation levels, percent stem cutting, and parasitism.
Male and female sawfly pheromones also are being isolated and
identified. These have potential for improved sampling methodology
or mating disruption. Mating and host selection behavior also
is being studied.
Winter wheat program.
Phil Bruckner, Jim Berg, Ron Ramsfield, and James Baley.
Hard white wheat. The winter wheat program is in transition
to predominantly a HWWW cultivar development program. The program
target is high-yielding, broadly-adapted HWWW cultivars with good
pest resistance and stress tolerance and dual-purpose end-use
quality, i.e., by premium Asian noodle and good bread baking.
End-use quality goals are medium to high protein and gluten strength,
high flour extraction, low ash content, nonwaxy starch, good bread-baking
characteristics, excellent noodle color characteristics, and good
noodle texture parameters. The priority of pest resistance is
for wheat stem sawfly. Additional breeding objectives are herbicide
resistance, RWA resistance, cold tolerance, and WSMV resistance.
Potential cultivar releases. MT9432 (Nuwest/Tiber) was
approved for release as BigSky. BigSky is a broadly-adapted,
high-yielding HRWW with medium maturity, good foliar disease resistance,
and dual-purpose end- use quality. BigSky is projected as a replacement
for Tiber. Three additional experimental lines are being increased
for potential release in the autumn of 2000. MTW9441 (Nuwest/Tiber)
is a dual-purpose HWWW with high flourextraction, low ash, preharvest
sprouting resistance, excellent Asian noodle color characteristics,
and good bread- baking characteristics. MTS9719 and MTS9720 (Nuwest/MT88001//MT7863)
are hollow-stemmed HRWWs with field tolerance to cutting by wheat
stem sawfly.
Publications.
Blake NK, Lehfeldt BR, Lavin M, and Talbert LE. 1999. Genome reconstruction
in an allopolyploid: the B genome of wheat. Genome (in press).
Bruckner PL, Cash SD, and Lee RD. 1998. Nitrogen effects on triticale
grain yield, amino acid composition, and feed nutritional quality
for swine. J Prod Agric 11:180-184.
Bruckner PL, Eckhoff JL, Berg JE, Stallknect GF, Carlson GR, Wichman
DM, Stougaard RN, Kushnak GD, Bowman HF, Tilley KA, Taylor GA,
and McVey DV. 1997. Registration of McGuire wheat. Crop Sci 37:1005-
1006.
Bruckner PL, Johnson JW, Burton GW, Gates RN, Barnett RD, and
Hill GM. 1999. Registration of Wrens 96 rye. Crop Sci 39:287.
Bruckner PL, Kushnak GD, Berg JE, Wichman DM, Carlson GR, Stallknect
GF, Stougaard RN, Eckhoff JL, Bowman HF, Morrill WL, Hockett EA,
and Tilley KA. 1997. Registration of Rampart wheat. Crop Sci 37:1004.
Bruckner PL, Barnett RD, and Johnson JW. 1997. Registration of
Morey wheat. Crop Sci 37:1008.
Burkhamer RL, Lanning SP, Martens RJ, Martin JM, and Talbert LE.
1998. Predicting progeny variance from parental divergence in
hard red spring wheat. Crop Sci 38:243-248.
Carlson GR, Bruckner PL, Berg JE, Kushnak GD, Wichman DM, Eckhoff
JL, Tilley KA, Stallknect GF, Stougaard RN, Bowman HF, Morrill
WL, Taylor GA, and Hockett EA. 1997. Registration of Vanguard
wheat. Crop Sci 37:291.
Engel RE, Bruckner PL, and Eckhoff J. 1998. Critical tissue concentration
and chloride requirements for wheat. Soil Sci Soc Am J 62:401-405.
Engel RE, Bruckner PL, Mathre DE, and Brumfield SKZ. 1997. A chloride
deficient leaf spot syndrome of wheat. Soil Sci Soc Am J 61:176-184.
Lang CE, Lanning SP, Carlson GR, Kushnak GD, Bruckner PL, and
Talbert LE. 1998. Relationship between baking quality and noodle
quality in hard white spring wheat. Crop Sci 38:823-827.
Lanning SP, Talbert LE, Martin JM, Blake TK, and Bruckner PL.
1997. Genotype effects in wheat and barley for light penetration
and wild oat competition. Agron J 89:100-103.
Lou KF, Weiss MJ, Bruckner PL, Morrill WL, Talbert LE, and Martin
JM. 1998. RAPD variation within and among geographic populations
of wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Norton. J Hered 89:329-325.
Morrill WL, Kushnak GD, and Gabor JW. 1998. Parasitism of the
wheat stem sawfly (Hymenoptera: Cephidae) in Montana. Biol Cont
12:159-163.
Shan X, Blake TK, and Talbert LE. 1999. Conversion of AFLP to
sequence-specific markers in wheat and barley. Theor Appl Genet
(In press).
Talbert LE, Smith LY, and Blake NK. 1998. More than one origin
of hexaploid wheat indicated by sequence comparison of low copy
DNA. Genome 41:402-407.
Wichman DM, Bruckner PL, Berg JE, Carlson GR, Stallknect GF, Eckhoff
JL, Stougaard RN, Kushnak GD, Bowman HF, Johnston RH, Tilley KA,
Taylor GA, Hockett EA, McVey DV, and Hatchett JH. 1997. Registration
of Erhardt wheat. Crop Sci 37:1004-1005.