Items from the United States - Colorado.

ITEMS FROM THE UNITED STATES


COLORADO

COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Ft. Collins, CO 85023, USA.


Wheat breeding and genetics. [p. 100-101]

S. Haley, J. Stromberger, J. Butler, E. Heaton, H. Miller, B. Beyer, and J. Roth.

Production conditions, test sites, and cultivar distribution. Total winter wheat production in 2006 was estimated at 39.9 x 106 bushels, a 24% decrease from the 2005 crop and 41% lower than the 10-year average. Average grain yield, at 21.0 bushels/acre, was 13% lower than in 2005, 31% lower than the 10-year average, and the lowest grain yield since 1968. The area harvested for grain was estimated at 1.9 x 106 acres, down from 2.2 x 106 acres in 2005.

In 2005-06, the breeding program conducted field trials at six main locations in eastern Colorado (Akron, Burlington, Dailey, Julesburg, Sheridan Lake, and Walsh) in addition to the main location at the ARDEC research facility near Fort Collins. Overall, environmental conditions experienced at these locations where characterized by severe drought and high temperature stress that adversely affected both yield and quality. The following descriptions highlight the conditions experienced at our main testing locations. Akron – good autumn emergence and growth, very dry winter, warm spring with very limited moisture, severe drought stress from late spring through grain filling. All breeding trials were harvested. Burlington – good planting conditions, crusting from rain after planting caused very uneven emergence. Adequate spring rains allowed stands to fill in some, though some trials remained problematic. Some trials with very poor emergence were abandoned. Dailey – marginal planting conditions (no-till), spotty emergence, excellent autumn precipitation, adequate spring rains though stands remained spotty and drought stress was evident by early June. Some minor freeze damage noted. All breeding trials were harvested. Julesburg – very dry planting conditions, excellent fall emergence and autumn growth following heavy October rains, dry winter and spring, very severe drought stress with wheat only 6" tall in places. Variety trial was harvested by all other trials were abandoned. Sheridan Lake – marginal planting moisture (no-till), spotty emergence, good autumn rains, dry and warm winter, adequate spring rains. All breeding trials were harvested. Walsh – very dry planting conditions, good October rains immediately following planting, adequate emergence and autumn growth, some minor crusting, very warm and dry winter, significant drought stress developed by early spring. Most yield trials were harvested, although some had multiple missing plots due to non-uniformity of drought stress and Tordon spots. Fort Collins (irrigated) – excellent autumn stands and growth, significant drought stress from due to dry and warm winter and spring and inadequate and late irrigation. No significant disease or insect pressure. High temperature throughout grain filling also was a significant factor reducing yields and quality. Little significant lodging observed. All breeding trials were harvested.

Under the direction of CSU Extension Agronomist Dr. Jerry Johnson, the CSU Variety Testing Program evaluated check cultivars and experimental lines at seven other dryland trial locations (UVPT - Bennett, Cheyenne Wells, Genoa, Lamar, Orchard, Sheridan Lake, and Yuma) and two other irrigated trial locations (IVPT - Haxtun and Rocky Ford). Overall, the various UVPT trial locations experienced significant high temperature and drought stress throughout the crop season. In spite of the low grain yields of the trials, all 11 UVPT locations were successfully harvested and incorporated into the statewide data summary. In addition to the Fort Collins IVPT, both Haxtun and Rocky Ford were successfully harvested though yields at Fort Collins and Rocky Ford were reduced due to high temperatures.

No significant disease or insect problems were found in the trials in 2006. Although not a problem in the trials, wheat streak mosaic virus was a significant problem in some areas of the state because of the mild conditions experienced in late summer and autumn 2005 that provided ideal conditions for the wheat curl mite that transmits WSMV. Stripe rust, which had been so severe in 2005, was absent in 2006, significantly complicating selection to improve resistance to this disease. Aside from RWA that were observed at several locations, no other significant insect (bird cherry-oat aphid, greenbug) problems were noted.

Planted acreage estimates for the 2006 crop were as follows: Akron - 13.6%; TAM 107 - 9.8%; Prairie Red - 9.3%; Jagalene - 8.6%; Jagger - 7.2%; Above and Prowers/Prowers 99 - 6.1%; TAM 111 - 5.1%; Ankor - 4.8%; Trego - 4.3%; Yumar - 4.1%; Yuma - 2.6%; Lamar - 2.3%; Halt - 1.4%; Weston - 1.3%; Other - 13.4%.

 

New cultivar releases. [p. 101]

One new winter wheat cultivar was released in autumn 2006. The new cultivar, named Ripper (denoting 'something of uncommon worth'), is a hard red winter wheat with very high dryland yields, excellent drought and high temperature tolerance, and excellent milling and baking quality characteristics. In 4 years of statewide testing in the dryland Colorado Uniform Variety Performance Trial (UVPT), Ripper was the top yielding entry in the trials; about 7% (1.8 bu/acre) higher than the next closest entry and 13% (3.2 bu/a) higher than Prairie Red. Ripper will be an excellent replacement for other stress tolerant, early-maturing cultivars in Colorado, particularly TAM 107 and Prairie Red, which tend to perform better in dry years yet have a marketing penalty due to their poor milling and baking quality.

Ripper was selected from the cross 'CO940606 / TAM107-R2'. CO940606 is an unreleased sib-selection of KS94WGRC29, a germ plasm release from Kansas State University with the pedigree 'PI 220127 / P5 // TAM-200 / KS87H66'. TAM107R-2 is an unreleased sib-selection of Prairie Red. Ripper is a bearded (awned), white-chaffed, early maturing, semidwarf with heading date about one day later than that of Prairie Red and three days earlier than that of Hatcher. Plant height of Ripper is about one inch taller than those of both Prairie Red and Hatcher with most of this difference occurring in 2005 and 2006 when drought stress was most severe (i.e., suggesting that Ripper may maintain plant height better under drought stress conditions). Ripper has a medium-long coleoptile (similar to Prairie Red, slightly longer than Hatcher), good shattering tolerance (similar to Prairie Red and Hatcher), and good straw strength (similar to Prairie Red, slightly better than Hatcher). The test weight of Ripper is slightly below average (similar to those of Jagger and Yuma) and grain protein content is slightly below average (similar to those of Prairie Red and Hatcher). Ripper is moderately resistant to prevalent races of stem rust, resistant to the virulent Ug-99 race of stem rust identified in Africa, susceptible to both stripe and leaf rust, moderately susceptible to WSMV, resistant to biotype 1 Russian wheat aphid (RWA), and susceptible to biotype 2 RWA. Comprehensive milling and baking quality evaluations (using Above, Ankor, and Hatcher as check entries) have shown that Ripper has superior values for both milling-related and baking-related variables compared to the check entries.

Detailed data on Ripper and other recently released cultivars may be found at the home page of the CSU Wheat Breeding and Genetics Program (http://wheat.colostate.edu).

 

New foundation seed increases. [p. 101]

One new experimental line, designated as CO01385-A1, was advanced for Foundation Seed increase in autumn 2006. Pending further yield and quality evaluations in 2006-07, CO01385-A1 is targeted for release as a new cultivar in autumn 2007. CO01385-A1 is a medium height, medium maturing, hard red winter wheat with very high dryland and irrigated yields, high test weight, good resistance to both leaf and stripe rust, and above-average milling and baking quality characteristics. CO01385-A1 was derived from the cross 'Yumar / Arlin' made in 1997, with initial line selection (CO01385) done in 2001 and a pure-line reselection done in Yuma, AZ, in 2003. CO01385-A1 has been the highest yielding entry averaged across two years of testing in the UVPT (21 location-years), with its yield 0.8 bu/acre greater than Ripper, 1.7 bu/acre greater than Bond CL, 2.9 bu/acre greater than Hatcher, 3.7 bu/acre greater than Keota, and 4.4 bu/acre greater than Avalanche (the next five highest yielding lines in the UVPT on a 2-year average). Test weight of CO01385-A1 was the third highest in the UVPT, about 1 lb/bu greater than the average of all entries, 0.3 lb/bu less than Danby and Trego, 0.2 lb/bu less than Avalanche, and 0.5 lb/bu greater than Prowers 99. In the irrigated IVPT, CO01385-A1 also was the highest yielding entry averaged across two years of testing (six location-years). Yield has been 3.1 bu/acre greater than TAM 111, 4.9 bu/acre greater than Bond CL, and 9.2 bu/acre greater than Hatcher (these are the next three highest yielding lines in the IVPT on a two-year average). Test weight of CO01385-A1 was the third highest in the IVPT, about 1 lb/bu above the average of all entries, 0.2 lb/bu less than Jagalene and NuGrain, 0.1 lb/bu greater than TAM 111, and 0.3 lb/bu greater than NuFrontier.

 

Personnel changes. [p. 102]

In July 2006, two new Research Associates joined our program as a result of the departure of Sally Clayshulte in December 2005 and Bruce Clifford in May 2006. Emily Heaton came to us from the soybean breeding program at South Dakota State University. Prior to this, Emily completed a B.S. degree at CSU (while working in Dr. Pat Byrne's laboratory) and then her M.S. degree at North Carolina State University. Emily will be coördinating our molecular marker-assisted selection and mapping activities. Hayley Miller came to us from the field crops entomology program at CSU. Hayley completed both her B.S. and M.S. degrees at CSU. Hayley will be managing our wheat quality testing efforts. Emily and Hayley enjoy both field and laboratory work, and we are very excited about these new changes for our program.


New Russian wheat aphid biotype research. [p. 102]

With the identification of a new, virulent biotype of RWA in Colorado in 2003, and additional virulent biotypes in 2004, we continue to be actively involved in several different research areas to address this problem. These activities have focused on continued germ plasm screening, molecular marker identification for key resistance genes, and breeding line and population development. The following are the highlights of these activities.

  • We completed the screening of 1,700 selections from the NPGS for resistance to RWA biotype 2. These selections had previously shown susceptibility to RWA biotype 1 in screenings done by the USDA-ARS lab at Stillwater, OK. We have identified many germ plasm accessions with resistance to the new biotypes and do not plan any new germ plasm evaluations in the near future.
  • In autumn 2006, we planted a cošperative RWA biotype-2 resistance nursery at five of our breeding sites (Akron, Dailey, Walsh, Sheridan Lake, Fort Collins). This trial includes eight resistant lines from the ARS program in Stillwater and 13 lines from our own program. All of these lines appear to carry the Dn7 gene from the 2414-11 and Altus-034 accessions that we obtained from ARS-Stillwater in 2003. Based on yield and quality evaluations, we would hope to advance a subset of these lines for testing in autumn 2007 and being seed increase of the most promising lines.
  • We completed backcrossing of the Dn7 gene in 2414-11 into two elite HRWW backgrounds from our program (CO00739 and CO00554). Both of these wheats were high-yielding lines in 2003 but neither were released as Hatcher showed slightly superior performance. Backcross derivatives from these two groups were increased in our greenhouse in autumn 2006. Seed samples from heads harvested separately were split, part of the sample was retained at CSU for RWA biotype 2 testing and part was sent to Yuma, AZ, for seed increase. We would hope to advance a group of these line selections to multiple location testing in autumn 2007, but it is too early to project when a cultivar release might be made from these materials.
  • Many new crosses and backcross populations have been developed using resistance sources identified. We have begun top-crossing several backcross-derived resistance sources with other susceptible wheats in our breeding program. Many of these populations are now going to the field.

 

Preharvest-sprouting tolerance evaluation. [p. 102]

Many hard white wheats have a predisposition to sprout in the head if wet conditions persist at harvest maturity. In 2005-06, we continued to increase the number of samples evaluated in our sprout testing systems. For our kernel germination protocol, we implemented a 'germination index' calculation, which weights the kernels germinated according the day that they sprout (i.e., kernels sprouting after 1 day in the chamber are weighted greater in the calculation than those sprouting on the sixth day in the chamber). With the intact head sprouting test, we continue to perform reselection within Preliminary and Advanced lines as a means to selectively identify sprout-tolerant segregates within heterogeneous lines. In this test, line reselections showing better sprout tolerance than the checks are dried, threshed, and planted in the headrow nursery in the autumn. We are optimistic that this scheme will yield positive results with regard to improved sprouting tolerance in our breeding program. We also have been working to optimize several molecular markers reportedly associated with sprouting tolerance using the data from our own sprout tests to determine if the markers are predictive in our own germ plasm.


USDA-CAPS grant. [p. 103]

Working cooperatively with Drs. Pat Byrne and Nora Lapitan, we continue to work on the USDA-CAPS grant secured by Dr. Jorge Dubcovsky at UC-Davis. We are nearing completion of our mapping population and planted a subset of this population at Fort Collins for phenotypic evaluation in 2006-07. Marker mapping in the population is progressing well. As part of the grant, we will also be increasing our use of molecular MAS through collaboration with the USDA-ARS Genotyping Center in Manhattan, KS. We are initially focusing on topcross populations segregating for various glutenin alleles, stripe rust resistance (Yr5 and Yr15), leaf and stem rust resistance (Lr19/Sr25, Sr2, Sr24 sources), and the high grain protein content gene from tetraploid wheat. We continue to screen all parents entering our crossing block with molecular markers and over the coming year we are planning to implement routine marker screening in both F1-topcross and single seed descent populations derived from F2 populations.


Colorado Wheat Variety Database. [p. 103]

In August 2006, we launched a revised version of the Colorado Wheat Variety Database. The database had been available over the web since 2000, but it had become increasingly difficult to maintain over the web and internet security concerns had also become an issue. To alleviate these concerns, we modified the database such that users can now download a stand-alone version of the database over the Internet and install this on their own computer. Once installed, all functions of the database system are available from the userÕs computer without accessing the Internet/web. The new Colorado Wheat Variety Database maintains the same functions as the previous version while providing several enhancements. The database allows users to search for wheat cultivar information, display trial results from all Colorado trial locations since 1990, create yield and test weight summaries averaged over years and trial locations specified by the user, and create head-to-head yield and test weight comparisons between two varieties of interest. Users interested in obtaining the database may download the database from the following link: http://wheat.colostate.edu/vpt.html.


Graduate student research. [p. 103]

Three graduate student research projects are currently underway in our breeding program. Although we expect that these research projects will contribute vital information to help direct and focus breeding efforts, both the breeding project and the students benefit in many other ways though direct student involvement in the overall breeding program. Briefly, these include the following areas of research.

  • Development and validation of near infrared reflectance (NIR) spectroscopy calibrations for whole-grain prediction of end-use quality characteristics (Joshua Butler). Josh began his Ph.D. dissertation studies (and his appointment as a research associate) in autumn 2004 and has been working on development of a variety of whole grain NIR calibrations. Josh currently has a field study underway, planted at four of our field locations, to validate the results of selection based on three different whole grain calibrations. Josh hopes to complete his studies and defend his dissertation in spring 2008.
  • Validation of the BYDV resistance and high grain protein content traits introgressed to several elite backgrounds as part of the IFAFS molecular marker grant (Jennifer Roth). Backcross derived near-isogenic lines have been developed following several generations of marker-assisted backcross selection. These lines were increased in Yuma, AZ, during winter 2005-06 to allow us to plant yield trials at several locations in autumn 2006. The objective of Jennifer's thesis study is to determine the direct and indirect effects of transfer of these segments to several elite backgrounds in our program. Jennifer hopes to complete her studies after summer 2007 and defend her thesis in autumn 2007.
  • RWA biotype-2 resistance gene mapping and gene transfer from T. turgidum subsp. dicoccoides (Ben Beyer). Ben has completed the development of a mapping population segregating for resistance to RWA biotype 2. He has screened bulks and the parents with many microsatellite markers and has identified a few that are showing linkage with the gene of interest. Further mapping is underway. Ben also has been working to transfer RWA biotype 2 RWA resistance from a tetraploid wheat (T. turgidum subsp. dicoccoides) to common wheat. In this study, Ben has developed selfed and backcross-derived lines that apparently carry the resistance from the tetraploid parents. Ben will be completing his studies and defending his thesis in autumn 2007.

 

Publications. [p. 104]

  • Burd JD, Porter DR, Puterka GJ, Haley SD, and Peairs FB. 2006. Biotypic variation among North American Russian wheat aphid (Homoptera: Aphididae) populations. J Econ Entomol 99:1862-1866.
  • Haley SD, DeLacy IH, and Johnson JJ. 2006. Multilocational (1990-2006) analysis of Colorado winter wheat yield trial data. Agron Abstr.
  • Haley SD, Johnson JJ, Peairs FB, Quick JS, Westra PH, Stromberger JA, Clayshulte SR, Clifford BL, Rudolph JB, Giura A, Seabourn BW, Chung OK, Jin Y, and Kolmer J. 2006. Registration of 'Bond CL' wheat. Crop Sci 46:993-994.
  • Haley SD, Johnson JJ, Peairs FB, Quick JS, Westra PH, Stromberger JA, Clayshulte SR, Clifford BL, Rudolph JB, Giura A, Seabourn BW, Chung OK, Jin Y, and Kolmer J. 2006. Registration of 'Protection' wheat. Crop Sci 46:995-996.
  • Haley SD, Johnson JJ, Westra PH, and Peairs FB. 2006. CLEARFIELD* winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) cultivar development, commercialization, and introduction in the western Great Plains region of the USA. In: Proc 13th Australasian Plant Breeding Conf (Mercer CF, Ed) , Christchurch, New Zealand, 18-21 April 2006.
  • Ibrahim AMH, Haley SD, Jin Y, Langham MAC, Rickertsen J, Kalsbeck S, Little R, Chung OK, Seabourn BW, and McVey CV. 2006. Registration of 'Wendy' Wheat. Crop Sci 36:1389-1390.
  • Puterka GJ, Burd JD, Mornhinweg DW, Haley SD, and Peairs FB. 2006. Response of resistant and susceptible barley to infestations of five Diuraphis noxia (Homoptera: Aphididae) biotypes. J Econ Entomol 99:2151-2155.
  • Seifers DL, Martin TJ, Harvey TL, Haber S, and Haley SD. 2006. Temperature sensitivity and efficacy of wheat streak mosaic virus resistance derived from CO960293 wheat. Plant Dis 90:623-628.
  • Shan X, Clayshulte SR, Byrne PF, and Haley SD. 2006. Variation for glutenin and waxy alleles in U.S. hard winter wheat germplasm. Agron Abstr.
  • Zheng S, Shan X, Byrne PF, and Haley SD. 2006. Effects of glutenin subunit variation and 1RS·1AS translocation on dough properties of wheat grown in Colorado environments. Agron Abstr.