wheat Archives - Department of Soil and Crop Sciences

Texas A&M AgriLife-bred wheat varieties top Texas producer choices

24Mar

A drone shot of the irrigated uniform variety wheat trial near Bushland gives a perspective on the differences in hard red winter wheat varieties, including those bred by Texas A&M AgriLife. (Texas A&M AgriLife drone photo by Shannon Baker)

by Kay Ledbetter

The Texas A&M AgriLife wheat breeding team once again leads in the development of the varieties producers select to plant across Texas, according to the most recent U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA-NASS, survey.

TAM 114 remains at the top of the hard red winter wheat varieties, closely followed by TAM 204, according to the Texas Wheat Varieties report released recently. These two varieties led plantings in the Northern High Plains and Southern High Plains, the major wheat-producing regions of the state. TAMsoft 700 topped the survey for soft red winter varieties planted in the Blacklands and Cross Timbers regions.

“The Texas Wheat Team, comprised of outstanding breeders, agronomists, plant pathologists and entomologists, continues to provide the best wheat varieties available to growers in Texas and beyond,” said Larry Redmon, Ph.D., associate department head and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service program leader in Texas A&M’s Department of Soil and Crop Sciences.

According to the USDA-NASS report, in 2020, the state planted an estimate of 4.9 million acres of wheat. For 2022, the preliminary estimate is 5.6 million acres.

“The results of the survey clearly show the success of the TAM wheat breeding program and offer insight into the varieties that are performing best for Texas farmers,” said Rodney Mosier, executive vice president of Texas Wheat Producers Board and Association, a funding partner of Texas A&M AgriLife’s wheat breeding program.

“Farmers support the wheat breeding program through the Texas Wheat Producers Board checkoff every year, and it is encouraging to see that investment paying off as TAM varieties perform well in the field and increase in popularity,” Mosier said.

2022 Wheat Variety Survey results

TAM 114, bred in 2014 by Texas A&M AgriLife Research, is the top wheat planted in Texas. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

The 2022 Wheat Variety Survey, conducted from December through January, asked producers to report wheat acres planted and to be planted, by variety, for the 2022 crop year. AgriLife Extension funded the survey.

Those figures were compared to 2020 since there was no report generated for 2021, according to the USDA-NASS.

“We are excited to see these figures from NASS,” said Jackie Rudd, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Research wheat breeder, Amarillo. “Our research aims to create varieties with improved insect and disease resistance, excellence in milling and baking qualities, and improved adaptability and forage performance. This report indicates that the producers believe in the TAM genetics we have developed.”

TAM 114 accounted for 5.6% of the 2022 wheat planted acres, and TAM 204 moved up three spots from the 2020 crop year, ranking second and accounting for 5.1% of acres planted for 2022. Both of these varieties were released in 2014.

TAM 114 was bred for the Texas High Plains, as well as western Kansas and eastern Colorado, and also performs well in most other areas of Texas. It is good in dual-purpose grazing and seed systems, tolerating heavy grazing pressure and still maintaining its grain yield and excellent bread quality.

TAM 204 is a beardless wheat bred for the Texas High Plains, Oklahoma and southern Kansas. It is an excellent heavy grazing and graze-out wheat with resistance to wheat streak mosaic virus, wheat curl mite, greenbug and Hessian fly.

TAM 204, bred in 2014 by Texas A&M AgriLife Research, is the second-most planted wheat in Texas. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

TAM 112, released in 2005, moved down to the fourth-place spot at 2.4% planted. TAM 111, a release from 2003, and TAM 112, released in 2005, which ranked as the top two planted wheat varieties for nearly a decade, are still popular at third, 2.7%, and fourth, 2.4%.

TAM 105, one of the oldest varieties in the survey, released in 1979, moved up from ninth to seventh place, with 1.6% of the acreage. Finally, TAM 113, released in 2010, gained one position at 1% of the acreage, to round out the top 10 varieties in 2022.

Other varieties and their positions were: Gallagher, with 1.9% of the acreage, dropped three spots from 2020 to fifth; SY Razor moved into the sixth slot and contributed to 1.8% of the acreage; Winterhawk tied with TAM 105 at seventh place at 1.6% of the acreage; and Smith’s Gold accounted for 1.2% of the 2022 acreage and placed ninth.

In the soft red winter wheat area, Amir Ibrahim, Ph.D., AgriLife Research wheat breeder in Bryan-College Station, said TAMsoft 700 was co-released jointly in 2009 by Texas A&M AgriLife and the University of Georgia. It targets excellent grain yield under heavy Hessian fly infestation conditions in north-central and eastern Texas.

TAM varieties

Rudd leads the Amarillo-Vernon Center of Excellence, which targets the High Plains and Rolling Plains. The primary breeding objectives aim to resist drought, wheat curl mite, wheat streak mosaic virus and greenbug.

Ibrahim leads the College Station Center of Excellence targeting Central Texas, South Texas and the Blacklands, with primary breeding objectives directed toward heat stress, leaf rust, stripe rust, stem rust, and Hessian fly resistance.

The two centers collaborate closely, so most varieties and breeding lines combine the strengths of both, leading to better varieties with a wider adaptation than either could develop working alone.

TAM 114 and TAM 204, both released in 2014, have complementary traits, Rudd said. TAM 114 offers excellent grain yield and quality and very good grazing, while TAM 204 has excellent grazing characteristics and very good grain yields, Rudd said.

“TAM 115 and TAM 205 are the new guys,” he said. “It is good to see them getting started, and I expect them to move up in rank rapidly.”

TAM 115 and TAM 205 were both released in 2019. TAM 115 is a dual-purpose variety bred for the Texas High Plains and offers both excellent drought tolerance and bread-making qualities. TAM 205 is another dual-purpose variety bred for the Texas High Plains and Rolling Plains. It provides good fall forage production, as well as maintains an excellent bread-making quality.

Three Big Country Wheat webinars set for August

7Aug

By: Susan Himes

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will be presenting the annual Big Country Wheat Conference as webinars this year. The free event will run on three consecutive Thursdays starting Aug. 13 from noon to 1 p.m. each day.

“We feel these online events will provide area producers with valuable information heading into the upcoming wheat planting season,” said Steve Estes, AgriLife Extension agent for Taylor County. “This series offers something for everyone regarding the new crop, whether it be pricing strategies, managing risk, picking the best variety of seed, or managing the crop once it’s in the ground.”

Participants may attend any or all of the sessions online. Preregistration is required.

The Big Country Wheat webinar series begins August 13 (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Beth Ann Luedekre)

Conditions permitting, there is also a limited number of in-person seating for Big Country Wheat at both the AgriLife Extension offices in Taylor and Callahan counties. This option requires an RSVP to 325-672-6048.

The Aug. 27 session will have one general Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education unit available.

The themes, topics and speakers for each session are as follows:

Aug. 13, Wheat Marketing and Risk Management Strategies

Market outlook, pricing strategies and marketing plans – Mark Welch, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension grain marketing economist, College Station.
Risk management opportunities, price loss coverage and crop insurance options – Bill Thompson, AgriLife Extension economist, San Angelo.

Aug. 20, Wheat Variety Selection

Variety performance data and 2020 wheat variety picks – Emi Kimura, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension agronomist, Vernon.
Variety traits, disease and pest resistance options – Reagan Noland, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension agronomist, San Angelo.

Aug. 27, Planting and Crop Management Considerations

Seedling rates, seedling target and seed counts; seed options, certified vs. saved seed; fertilization timing, yield and protein considerations; current weed and insect control options – Noland and Fernando Guillen, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension small grains specialist, College Station.

Texas A&M AgriLife brings wheat field tours to producers online

23Jun

By: Kay Ledbetter

Producers across the state are harvesting or have already harvested their wheat crop. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

Texas A&M AgriLife wheat research and variety trials did not take a break during the COVID-19 pandemic. But it was not possible to conduct a traditional May wheat field tour, so Texas A&M AgriLife faculty across the state are bringing fields to producers – virtually.

The 2020 Virtual Wheat Tour is a combination of videos from across the state that allow producers to view the field trials and hear the latest in research, said Fernando Guillen, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service statewide small grains and oilseed crops specialist, College Station.

Picking the best of the best

Winter wheat uniform variety trials, or UVT, were planted at 23 sites across the state in 18 different geographic locations to evaluate lines of wheat under both irrigated and dryland conditions, Guillen said.

The plots are a collaboration of AgriLife Extension agronomists and county agents as well as Texas A&M AgriLife Research’s two wheat breeders, Jackie Rudd, Ph.D., Amarillo, and Amir Ibrahim, Ph.D., College Station.

Guillen said the UVT include different varieties and experimental lines developed by Texas A&M AgriLife, as well as varieties from other universities and private industry. The results gathered from these test plots are used to make sound variety recommendations to producers in the different growing regions – High Plains, Rolling Plains, Blacklands and South Texas – by way of an annual “Picks list.” The 2020-2021 list will be posted in early August.

The best materials placed in the Picks list are selected based on a careful evaluation of:

Grain yield – the variety performs above average in its target region.
Disease and insect package – the variety’s ability to cope with seasonal disease and pressures within the target region – particularly leaf rust, stripe rust, stem rust, wheat streak mosaic virus, soil-borne mosaic virus, greenbug, wheat curl mite and Hessian fly.
End-use quality – specifically the variety must have above average test weight and good milling and baking attributes.
Stability – the variety must have the ability to perform consistently across locations and years within a given region.

This drone shot of the irrigated uniform variety trial near Bushland gives a wheat tour perspective on the differences in hard red winter wheat varieties. (Texas A&M AgriLife drone photo by Shannon Baker)

Variety trial locations

In the High Plains, there were three irrigated and three dryland trials located near Bushland, Groom, Perryton, Dumas and Dalhart. In these trials, 34 varieties were planted in the dryland trials and 36 in the irrigated ones. The dryland trials included eight Texas A&M AgriLife, TAM, varieties, four new experimental TAM lines, nine from other universities and 13 from the seed industry. The irrigated trials had eight TAM varieties, three experimental TAM lines, 11 from other universities and 14 from private industry. These trials are approaching the final stages of development, and they will soon be ready to harvest. This year no trials were lost due to weather conditions at the Panhandle.

In the Rolling Plains, there were trials under dryland conditions near Abilene, Chillicothe, Munday and San Angelo. They included 31 varieties – five TAM varieties, five experimental TAM lines, five from other universities and 16 from private industry. One location, Chillicothe, was impacted by freeze and hail damage.

The Blacklands had trials in Ellis, Hillsboro, McGregor, Muenster, Thrall and Prosper, all under dryland conditions. The Thrall location was lost, however, due to significant cattle damage. Harvest is underway at most locations. There were 23 varieties planted – four TAM, four experimental TAM lines, one from another university and 14 from private industry.

In South Texas, dryland trials were planted at Castroville, College Station, Eagle Lake and Uvalde and all were harvested in May. Twenty varieties were included in these trials – four TAM, five new experimental TAM lines, one from another university and 10 from private industry.

Wheat tour: Conditions and yields

Guillen said based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture report from May, approximately 80% of winter wheat was in fair condition or better. Only 21% was listed as poor or very poor. And at that time, about 30% had been harvested.

Ibrahim reported leaf rust was a problem again this year in the southern regions of the state, although not as severe as in previous years.

“It’s been wet in many areas of the Blacklands, so much so that we didn’t get to apply second dose of nitrogen this year,” he said. “Our yields were 50 to 60 bushels per acre instead of the 70 or 80 bushels per acre we typically see there.

“We also had some freeze damage in some of the early lines in South Texas and Central Texas. We had freezing temperatures in February after the wheat had started to joint. The freeze in Uvalde and Castroville came when the stems were elongating and caused the damage.”

Freezing temperatures and snow damaged wheat across the state in 2020. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Dr. Qingwu Xue)

Ibrahim said overall they saw good moisture and timely rains, although some rains impeded field operations. All locations other than the Blacklands were expected to see average yields.

Rudd said the weather has definitely provided the most optimum conditions to find the hardiest varieties.

“The reason our varieties are such strong performers under stress is because they have been bred and selected under stress,” he said.

In 2018, there was almost no rain and 2019 there was a lot of rain and good yields. Now in 2020, the rains were in the middle – decent early rains and then some snow through February and March, before they shut off.

“This gives us a good diversity of what we need when looking at different germplasm. Since breeding is a long multi-year process, something that can do really well in all three years are definitely keepers,” Rudd said.

He said many of the plots saw freeze and hail damage and then recent high winds caused some shattering in wheat lines that were not bred for the High Plains.

“Our target environment is a tough place and we need lines that will survive all these conditions,” Rudd said. “There are several experimental lines coming through the pipeline that we feel very good about. What we have in the pipeline are better than the existing varieties. The process works.”

Genetic capabilities cut time for potential Texas wheat lines to make field appearance

16Dec

Writer: Kay Ledbetter

When new pests, diseases or environmental issues are identified in Texas wheat, expertise in doubled haploid development can help find solutions in less than half the time of traditional breeding practices.

Chenggen Chu, Ph.D., a geneticist, joined Texas A&M AgriLife Research’s wheat program at Amarillo two years ago, and his doubled haploid wheat pure lines are already making it to field yield trials this fall.

Since moving to Amarillo, Chu has built a wheat doubled haploid production pipeline from scratch that can be shared with AgriLife Research’s wheat breeding programs in both Amarillo and College Station. He is training other personnel on the process.

Chenggen Chu, Ph.D., Texas AM AgriLife Research geneticist, looks at the first crop of doubled haploid wheat pure lines in a yield field trial at Bushland. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

The major advantage of using doubled haploid plants is to shorten time in developing genetically pure lines from five to six years in a traditional winter wheat breeding scheme, to only two or three years, said Shuyu Liu, Ph.D., AgriLife Research wheat geneticist, Amarillo.

“Texas A&M’s wheat breeding programs are very strong, but did not include anyone with the skills Dr. Chu brought with him,” Liu said. “The wheat doubled haploid line development procedures require some skilled steps in the laboratory.

“It also requires a special growth room and lab equipment for inducing haploid embryos, growing plants from young haploid embryos, doubling chromosome numbers to bring back the fertility, and recovering plants to grow in soil for seed production.”

What is doubled haploid?

Traditional wheat two sets of chromosomes (genetic material from both parents). This is called a diploid. In the general procedure for wheat doubled haploid production, corn was used as the father to pollinate the mother wheat plants.

During embryo development, only the chromosomes from the wheat mother plant are kept. These embryos with a single set of chromosomes are haploids and are highly sterile, producing almost no seed.

However, through an induced chromosome doubling process – the skill that Chu brings to the program – the haploids can produce another copy of chromosomes in each cell, bringing the chromosome numbers back to the normal two sets per cell and fully restoring their fertility.

This doubled haploid process turns the haploid to the regular diploid with two sets of chromosomes that are identical. The identical sets of chromosomes in each cell makes doubled haploid lines 100% genetically stable, even after being reproduced for many generations.

“This genetic stability, regardless of time and location, makes trait evaluation more accurate and reliable for breeders,” Chu said.

Chenggen Chu works in the lab at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Amarillo. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

Doubled haploids in the field

Chu has been able to optimize the procedures to increase efficiencies on both haploid plant induction and chromosome doubling. He led the genetic team working with Texas A&M’s two wheat breeding programs in College Station and Amarillo, and he produced more than 1,300 doubled-haploid lines in the first season from about 40 crosses.

The team has now finished the second season and harvested over 700 lines. The first set of 550 lines were increased for seed in Yuma, Arizona, and have been planted in multiple locations this fall for yield trials.

Liu said the process isn’t without challenges, as with any crop. The 2018 summer was very good for growing doubled haploid plants in the greenhouse in Bushland, but this past summer many plants failed to produce enough tillers due to the stressful, hot environment.

Next steps

“We would like to keep the trained personnel and established procedures and a facility to continue doubled haploid production to meet the requirements from both breeding and genetic research,” Liu said. “But that takes funding.”

He said they are currently working on two U.S. Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture projects where doubled haploids are involved to develop pure lines with target genes.

At the same time, Chu is working to optimize the procedures further to increase the efficiency of doubled haploid development.

“We greatly appreciate the funding support from the Crop Improvement Program of Texas A&M AgriLife Research during the last two years and the continuous support from Texas Wheat Producers Board,” Liu said.

Such funding, he said, will be key to keeping skilled technicians and a facility with controlled light and temperature conditions in place.

AgriLife ‘Top Picks’ offered as wheat producers gear up for new wheat crop

9Aug

By: Kay Ledbetter
Contacts: Dr. Jourdan Bell, 806-677-5600, jourdan.bell@ag.tamu.edu
Dr. Jackie Rudd, 806-677-5600, jcrudd@ag.tamu.edu
Dr. Calvin Trostle, 806-746-6101, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu

Planted wheat acres were down in 2018-2019 in the Texas Panhandle, but it was still a learning year, according to experts with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Texas A&M AgriLife Research.

It offered a mixed bag of conditions with record wheat yields, waterlogged fields resulting in reduced yields and shriveled, low test weight grain and many fields were either hailed out or severely damaged by hail.

Wheat variety trials coordinated by the Texas A&M AgriLife wheat improvement program in Amarillo are used to determine “Top Picks” each year. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

“Because it was an extreme production season for wheat farmers and across our variety trials, it was a very good year to evaluate wheat varieties,” said Dr. Jourdan Bell, AgriLife Extension agronomist, Amarillo.

Each year Bell and Dr. Calvin Trostle, AgriLife Extension agronomist, Lubbock, join with Dr. Jackie Rudd, AgriLife Research wheat breeder, Amarillo, to provide wheat producers across the High Plains their “Top Picks” list for varieties with the highest potential before planting time.

The summaries are derived from wheat variety trials coordinated by the Texas A&M AgriLife wheat improvement program in Amarillo, with funding provided by variety trial entry fees as well as the Texas Wheat Producers Board.

2018-2019 PRODUCTION

“Across the Texas High Plains, much of the early wheat for grazing or dual-purpose production was drilled into good soil moisture,” Bell said. “This resulted in good stands and good early forage production.”

However, she said, the rain stopped at the end of fall, late wheat was sowed in dry, and winter drought resulted in many producers pulling cattle off dryland wheat pasture early due to a lack of forage. Late spring rain resulted in excellent recovery of the wheat, except in the eastern and northeastern Panhandle where rain and hailstorms resulted in significant waterlogging and hail injury to wheat fields.

Planted wheat acres for grain were down because of increased cotton acres as well as increased acreage planted for wheatlage, Bell said.

However, in some areas the wheatlage was not chopped as fields were too wet, and much of the intended wheatlage went to grain.

In the western and southwestern Panhandle, cool conditions and ideal precipitation resulted in dryland yields approaching 80 bushels per acre on some fields; however, the regional average was approximately 40 bushels per acre. Irrigated wheat ranged from 70 to 100 bushels per acre depending on irrigation capacity and precipitation timing and amount. This region was also hit by scattered hailstorms that affected wheat on some fields, she said.

DETERMINING PICKS

Continuing a long-time tradition, ongoing Picks criteria include a minimum of three years of irrigated or dryland data in Texas A&M AgriLife regional variety trials across numerous annual locations.

“A Pick variety can be described as: Varieties that we would choose to include and emphasize on our farm for wheat grain production given the three-year performance and variety characteristics,” Trostle said.

Picks are not necessarily the numerical top yielders as end-use quality, important disease resistance traits – leaf or stripe rust resistance, wheat streak mosaic virus tolerance; insect tolerance – greenbugs, Russian wheat aphid, wheat curl mite, Hessian fly; or standability can also be important varietal traits that enable a producer to better manage potential risk, he said.

“Varieties placed on our Watch List show promise but have insufficient data, sometimes we only have two tears available to make a conclusion,” Trostle said.

TOP PICKS

Picks for the Texas High Plains are based on yield performance and consistency over 34 multi-year, multi-site irrigated and dryland trials harvested from 2015-2019.

Full Irrigation Picks – TAM 113, TAM 114, Croplan CP7869, Syngenta SY Monument and Westbred Winterhawk.

Limited Irrigation Picks – TAM 112, TAM 113, TAM 114, CP7869, SY Monument and Winterhawk.

Dryland – TAM 112, TAM 113, TAM 114, CP7869, LCS Mint, WB4721 and T158.

Watch List – TAM 205 and TAM 115 to all three categories, and LongBranch to dryland.

DISCUSSION

TAM 112

Drought tolerance and resistance to the wheat curl mite, which provides tolerance to wheat streak mosaic virus, keeps TAM 112 on the limited irrigated and dryland lists, Rudd said. However, TAM 112, unlike most of the other Picks, is susceptible to leaf and stripe rust, and is also susceptible to lodging under high irrigation and high nitrogen, so is not recommended for full irrigation.

TAM 113 remains on the list because of solid grain performance, forage potential and ability to emerge under stressful conditions, he said. It has moderate resistance to stripe and leaf rusts. Likewise, TAM 114 remains strong with good yields and a solid rust-resistance package, and is a common replacement for TAM 111, which was removed from the Picks list two years ago due to increasingly inconsistent performance.

TAM113

TAM114

Winterhawk, WB4721 and LCS Mint have continued to perform well for more than four years in Texas High Plains production, Rudd said. Dyna-Gro Long Branch will remain on the watch list. It has a good grain yield potential, but milling properties are not as good as other varieties and test weights are below average. T158 remains on the dryland list because of continued good performance under dryland conditions.

“We often receive inquiries about TAM 204, also,” he said. “Although it is not on the Picks list because of marginal bread-making quality, TAM 204 is the most popular ‘beardless’ variety. It is especially valuable because it can be used for grazing alone, grazing and grain, and unlike varieties with awns, it can be grazed-out.”

The team said the following changes were made this year:

– Croplan CP7869 is a new addition, evaluated since 2016-2017 production year. Released in 2018, it is well adapted for both irrigated and dryland conditions. In all years, it has been a top-yielding variety with good test weights, straw strength and a leaf disease package.

– Syngenta Monument is another addition as a top yielder in the High Plains Uniform Variety Trials, or HPUVT, irrigated trials for more than four years with good test weights. It is resistant to stripe and leaf rust. It was not placed on the dryland Picks List because it was not evaluated in 2018-2019 dryland trials.

– Oklahoma State University’s Iba was dropped because it has not maintained an upper yield potential compared to newer varieties. Both TAM 304 and Limagrain T158 were dropped from the irrigated lists. TAM 304 does not have the upper yield potential of newer varieties in the High Plains environment, and T158 was no longer evaluated in 2018-2019 High Plains irrigated trials.

– TAM 115 and TAM 205 are new varieties on the watch list with a solid three-year and two-year history, respectively, in the HPUVT trials. TAM 115 is a dual-purpose variety resistant to leaf rust, stripe rust, stem rust, greenbug and wheat curl mite with excellent drought tolerance. TAM 205 is a dual-purpose variety with a high top-end yield potential, good test weights, good fall forage production and resistance to leaf rust, stripe rust, stem rust and wheat streak mosaic virus.

– PlainsGold Avery, a Colorado variety, was removed from the watch list as ongoing results were insufficient to promote the variety for dryland.

Full wheat variety testing results for the High Plains are posted on <a href="https://varietytesting.tamu.eduvarietytesting.tamu.edu; http://amarillo.tamu.edu; and http://lubbock.tamu.edu.

Genes from wild wheat relative to aid in battle against trio of pests

19Jun

Writer: Kay Ledbetter
Contact: Dr. Shuyu Liu, sliu@ag.tamu.edu

Wheat curl mite, greenbug and Hessian fly have long been troublemaker pests for Texas wheat, but a team of Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists is ready to go high tech to help control them.

Dr. Shuyu Liu, AgriLife Research wheat geneticist in Amarillo, will lead a team to develop hard winter wheat germplasm with resistance to these pests using genes from a wild wheat relative. The research is funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant.

Dr. Shuyu Liu makes a cross between TAM 114 and a wild wheat relative at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research greenhouse near Bushland. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)

Joining Liu on the study are AgriLife Research scientists from Amarillo: Dr. Jackie Rudd, wheat breeder; Dr. Chenggen Chu, wheat genetics scientist; Dr. Ada Szczepaniec, entomologist; and Dr. Qingwu Xue, crop stress physiologist. Joining from College Station are Dr. Amir Ibrahim, wheat breeder, and Dr. Shichen Wang, bioinformatics scientist.

Wheat production in Texas is limited by the harsh and variable environment and a multitude of diseases, insects and other pests, Rudd said.

“We are now looking to the past, to wheat’s wild relatives, to find solutions to these stresses, which can reduce yield and end-use quality,” he said.

The specific goal of this project is to explore synthetic hexaploid wheat to find new resistance genes to defend against these three pests, Liu said.

“Currently, TAM 204 is the only commercial cultivar with this level of resistance,” he said. “It is critical we continue to diversify and find different sources of resistance to these pests.”

The synthetic wheat lines were developed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, known as CIMMYT, from artificial interspecific crosses between durum wheat and Aegilops tauschii, a progenitor species of wheat, Rudd said.

The synthetic lines are reservoirs of resistance genes not found in modern wheat varieties, he said.

“A lot of work has been done worldwide to bring genes from synthetics into spring wheat,” Rudd said. “But so far, little has been done to incorporate these into winter wheat, like we grow in the Great Plains of the U.S.”

Liu said by combining the resistance found in the synthetics with existing bread wheat germplasm, “we can broaden the genetic base for more durable resistance.”

Processes such as exome capture will help geneticists find markers that are tightly linked or even part of the gene, Chu said. The markers can then be used in an accelerated breeding process facilitated by doubled haploids to merge these genes into existing TAM varieties.

Dr. Chenggen Chu dissects the young embryo from wheat seeds to make a doubled-haploid plant. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

Liu said because pests evolve with host-resistance genes and biotypes of insects continually change, single major resistance genes may only be effective for a few years.

“This situation pushes researchers to keep searching for new sources of resistance and new genes in currently available sources of wheat or its relatives,” he said.

In recent years, progress in wheat genetic and genomic research has accelerated due to improved techniques and knowledge, Liu said. With improved understanding of the wheat genome and new molecular techniques, the whole process of developing superior germplasm lines and adapted cultivars can be sped up.

“Research in the molecular lab, growth chamber and greenhouse, along with field experiments, will be conducted to identify and validate diagnostic genic markers linked to target genes controlling important traits,” he said.

“This project will provide a greater understanding of the pest-resistance mechanisms,” Liu said. “The genetic markers linked to them can aid in selection efficiency by breeders, who will use the superior germplasm to develop future cultivars with these resistances for farmers.”

Two new wheat varieties announced by Texas A&M AgriLife

24Apr

Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. Jackie Rudd, 806-677-5600, jcrudd@ag.tamu.edu
Dr. Richard Vierling, 940-552-9941, richard.vierling@ag.tamu.edu

AMARILLO – Two new wheat varieties have been announced by Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the TAM Wheat Improvement Program, according to Dr. Jackie Rudd, AgriLife Research wheat breeder at Amarillo.

“We are excited to release these two new varieties that will complement the TAM lineup already being grown throughout much of Texas and the Southern High Plains of the U.S.,” Rudd said.

“Both are well-suited to battle against our environmental challenges and still perform well in end-user tests,” he said.

One of the newest wheat varieties to be released by Texas A&M AgriLife Research is TAM 115, pictured here to the right of TAM 114. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

Dr. Richard Vierling, director of the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Vernon and Texas Foundation Seed manager, said the two varieties have been submitted to the State Seed Plant Board. The board is appointed to oversee the seed certification program and will meet mid-June to review the varieties.

Vierling said both varieties are being grown in the Foundation seed increase this year and are performing well in the field. The Foundation and Registered classes of seed are the ones used to produce the Certified class, which is most typically used by the commercial producer.

“This step is designed to assure seed purity and quality, and genetic integrity during the commercial life of the variety,” he said. “We will start the licensing process as soon as we get seed in the bin.”

Rudd said some Certified seed will be available this fall, while most of the Foundation seed will be used for Registered and Certified seed for 2020. The licensee will decide how much to sell as Certified and how much to save for increase for next year.

TAM 115 is a hard, red winter wheat developed from a cross with TAM 112, Rudd said. The second release, TAM 205, was developed from the cross of RonL and a TAM experimental breeding line.

TAM 115 has good yield under dryland and irrigated conditions and has an excellent protection package for the High Plains, with resistance to leaf rust, stripe rust, stem rust, greenbug and wheat curl mite, he said.

Of these center four rows, the two on the left are TAM 205 and the two on the right are TAM 115. These strips are located in the Texas A&M AgriLife Research irrigated field trials near Bushland. (Texas A&M AgriLife drone photo by Shannon Baker)

“It is a few days later in flowering than the most popular cultivars in Texas, but compensates well with its rapid grain-fill characteristics,” Rudd said. “With large seeds, high test weight and strong dough properties, it received above-average milling and baking scores in the 2018 Wheat Quality Council evaluations.”

He said TAM 115 has drought tolerance, water-use efficiency, greenbug resistance and wheat curl mite resistance from the popular drought tolerant cultivar TAM 112, and leaf and stripe rust resistance from a Texas experimental line.

This new variety has performed well across the High Plains, Rolling Plains and Blacklands in Texas, as well as other southern Great Plains areas like western Kansas and eastern Colorado.

TAM 205 is resistant to leaf rust, stripe rust, stem rust, wheat streak mosaic virus, soil-borne wheat mosaic virus, spindle streak mosaic virus and fusarium head blight or scab, Rudd said.

“With large seeds, high test weight and strong dough properties, it also received very good milling and baking scores in this year’s Wheat Quality Council evaluation,” he said. “The bread-making characteristics of TAM 205 make it an excellent choice for whole-wheat products as well as traditional pan bread.”

TAM 205 has performed well across the nation’s southern winter wheat-growing regions and the Texas High Plains, Rolling Plains and the Blacklands.

“Both of these new varieties cover the ground quickly in the fall for good forage production,” Rudd said. “Both have performed well in traditional and organic production systems for grain only and for heavy grazing plus grain.”

Grain and forage yield data are available at http://varietytesting.tamu.edu/wheat/#varietytrials.

New computer model helps predict wheat forage success

24Jan

Writer: Adam Russell

A new, pioneering forage wheat model could provide a valuable technique to researchers exploring the potential of biomass production for cool-season annual forage grasses, according to model developers.

Researchers at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Overton – Dr. Monte Rouquette, Texas A&M AgriLife Research plant physiologist, and Dr. Prem Woli, AgriLife Research crop modeler, recently published a paper in Agronomy Journal titled “Simulating Winter Wheat Forage Production in the Southern U.S. Using a Forage Wheat Model.”

It focuses on annual forage grass modeling with the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer, or DSSAT, suite of crop computer models. Research by Dr. Charles Long, AgriLife Research animal breeder and center director; Dr. Ray Smith, AgriLife Research plant breeder and Dr. Lloyd Nelson, AgriLife Research plant breeder and professor emeritus, all in Overton, also contributed to the publication.

“This model using DSSAT provides an application of decades of field data from Texas A&M AgriLife Research at Overton to be used to guide future decisions on forage wheat production,” Long said. “Simulating alternative outcomes for forage wheat production management options will ultimately aid producers in making decisions.”

DSSAT is a software application program that comprises dynamic crop growth simulation models for over 40 crops, according to the DSSAT website. The program is supported by a range of utilities and applications for weather, soil, genetics, crop management and observational experimental data. It also includes example data sets for all the crop models included in the suite.

A new DSSAT crop model created by Texas A&M AgriLife researchers will allow researchers around the world simulate biomass production to help producers make science-based decisions regarding winter wheat forage growth. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Dr. Jourdan Bell)

Crop simulation models, including the forage wheat model, simulate growth, development and biomass production as a function of the soil-plant-atmosphere dynamics and management.

The soil-plant-atmosphere system comprises environmental factors such as soil type, weather – temperatures, solar radiation, wind and precipitation – and production management variables including cultivars, planting/harvesting dates and inputs such as nitrogen fertilizer, Rouquette said.

Like other crop models, the forage wheat model may be used by researchers, educators or students to understand the mechanisms underlying forage wheat biomass production — or by growers or extension agents as a tool for optimizing forage wheat production, Woli said. Users can analyze “what-if” scenarios by manipulating the various factors that impact biomass production.

Rouquette said around 30 growing seasons of winter wheat forage trial results data and 74 years of weather data from Overton and Henderson were used to calibrate and evaluate the DSSAT forage wheat model.

“We have a lot of history of small grain plantings for forage from Dr. Nelson’s variety trials here in Overton,” Rouquette said. “The field data ensure simulations are accurate and verifiable based on realistic conditions producers face season to season.”

The forage wheat model was used by the researchers to study winter wheat biomass responses to nitrogen, as influenced by two soil types. One was Lilbert, a sandy loam soil with more organic matter and water-holding capacity. Another was Darco, a sandy soil with low organic matter and water-holding capacity. Three planting dates were set between September and December and the ENSO – El Niño, La Niña and neutral – weather patterns, Woli said.

“By changing production factors, a model can simulate thousands of scenarios in minutes or hours compared to decades of field trials,” he said. “This is significant for forage production because it tells us what the variabilities mean in the form of biomass for livestock. It’s significant to researchers because until now we have only had the option of knowing what the outcome was under natural climate conditions each growing season.”

Of the various factors studied, Rouquette said nitrogen played the most important role in biomass production.

“If you’re not fertilizing in the Southern U.S., you’re not growing,” he said. “The ENSO was not a significant factor for winter wheat forage production in this region because wheat is drought tolerant and a cool-season forage that isn’t very susceptible to drought.”

For instance, the simulation results showed winter wheat biomass was optimized at 120 pounds of nitrogen fertilizer per acre on the Lilbert soil, whereas the Darco soil required 240 pounds of nitrogen per acre, Rouquette said.

Rouquette said the research was focused on modeling winter wheat forage production for various scenarios without consideration of whether management calibrations, such as nitrogen and irrigation, were cost-effective or prohibitive. However, he noted, forage modeling with market conditions and input cost calibrations also considered could be possible in the future to help guide producer decision-making from season to season.

Guar, wheat integration focus of new study

18Sep

Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-77-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu
Contacts: Dr. Curtis Adams, 940-552-9941, Curtis.adams@ag.tamu.edu
Dr. Calvin Trostle, 806-746-6101, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu

A team of scientists from Texas A&M AgriLife and the University of Florida are working to increase and stabilize guar production in the U.S. by testing integration of guar into existing wheat production in the Southern Plains.

The team is funded for the next four years to conduct this work by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “Sustainable Agroecosystems: Functions, Processes and Management” grant program.

Guar produces a seed containing galactomannan gum, which is used in many food and industrial applications as a lubricant, binder, thickener and hardener, among other uses.
“Most people don’t know it, but guar affects our lives every day,” said Dr. Curtis Adams, Texas A&M AgriLife Research crop physiologist in Vernon. “Guar gum is in many of the foods we eat, it’s in products we use in our homes, it’s used to extract oil and gas from the ground.”

Guar is being studied in rotation with wheat in the Vernon and Lubbock areas as part of a new Texas A&M AgriLife research project. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Dr. Curtis Adams)

In recent years, Adams said, demand for guar gum has increased substantially, and the U.S. is the world’s largest consumer. In 2011, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported the U.S. imported $1.1 billion in guar.

Guar is a legume, which means its roots can associate with Rhizobium bacteria in the soil to convert atmospheric nitrogen into fertilizer for the plant and soil, he said. It’s adapted to the semi-arid conditions of Texas and is among the most drought-tolerant crop plants, with relatively low water use.

“Introducing legumes, especially well-adapted legumes like guar, into our cropping systems provides a potential opportunity to improve soil nitrogen fertility and reduce input costs,” said Dr. Calvin Trostle, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agronomist in Lubbock.

“Despite high guar consumption and benefits the plant can provide in cropping systems, U.S. guar production is unstable and only amounts to a small fraction of the world’s guar supply,” Adams said. “We believe this represents missed economic and environmental opportunities.”

U.S. guar production is centered in the Southern Great Plains region of Texas, though acreage has remained low relative to major crops in the region due to a variety of factors.

“One reason U.S. guar production is low is that guar has typically not had the income potential of cotton, the dominant summer crop in this area,” Adams said. “A lack of crop insurance for guar is another reason, which may be attributed to the lack of development in the industry.”

When guar is grown here, it is usually in cotton systems, and then only when cotton prices are particularly low or as an emergency crop following failed cotton, he said.
“We expect competition with cotton to be an ongoing barrier to guar production for producers,” Adams said. “But, wheat cropping systems, which are left fallow in the summer, may provide another venue for guar.

“Integration of guar into wheat cropping systems has not been rigorously tested. But data gathered by our team showed that wheat planted immediately following guar had far higher productivity than wheat following three other summer crops, including cotton, sesame and sorghum.”

Trostle said the results of published studies on guar and wheat planting dates, water use and other relevant factors also suggest that the crops would complement each other in a combined cropping system.

“We hope this new USDA project will provide useful information on how and why guar should be integrated into wheat cropping systems, helping to boost and stabilize U.S. production of the crop,” Adams said.

Joining Adams and Trostle on the research team are Dr. Srini Ale, geospatial hydrologist, Dr. Seong Park, economist, and Dr. Paul DeLaune, environmental soil scientist, all with AgriLife Research in Vernon, as well as Drs. Gerrit Hoogenboom and Ken Boote, plant modelers from the University of Florida.

In the new project they will test various system management scenarios for integration of guar into wheat systems in Vernon and Lubbock, measuring and simulating impacts of the integration on crop, soil, water and economic factors.

The researchers will identify optimal cropping intensities to enhance productivity and soil nitrogen fertility. In doing so, they said they expect soil organic carbon and rates of microbial activity will increase in wheat-guar systems, an indication of potential improvements in soil health. DeLaune will work on this aspect of the project.

Another core aspect of the project is development of an original Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer, or DSSAT, model for guar to aid in data extrapolation and decision support. Hoogenboom and Boote will be working on development of the DSSAT model, while Ale will be making simulations with the new model.

“Our model will be the first of its kind for guar and will help improve our understanding of guar and how best to utilize the crop,” Ale said. “We expect the model to be used by researchers and policy makers in guar production areas around the world.”

Park will be assessing economic outcomes of the project. The team expects that integrated wheat-guar systems will bring higher proceeds than continuous wheat.

“Ultimately, we want to make producers aware of potential benefits and challenges associated with integrating guar into wheat production systems, benefitting producers and increasing domestic guar production,” Adams said.

Texas A&M AgriLife’s High Plains wheat “Top Picks” list released

18Sep

Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu
Contacts: Dr. Calvin Trostle, 806-746-6101, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu
Dr. Jourdan Bell, 806-677-5600, jourdan.bell@ag.tamu.edu
Dr. Jackie Rudd, 806-677-5600, jcrudd@ag.tamu.edu

Each year, experts with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Texas A&M AgriLife Research jointly provide wheat producers across the High Plains their “Top Picks” list for varieties with the highest potential before planting time.

The summaries are derived from wheat variety trials coordinated by the Texas A&M AgriLife wheat breeding program in Amarillo, with funding provided by variety trial entry fees as well as the Texas Wheat Producers Board.

Picks are based on yield performance and consistency from over 30 multiyear, multisite irrigated and dryland trials harvested from 2015-2018. Test sites range from Lamesa to Perryton and west to Clovis, New Mexico.

A drone shot of the Texas A&M AgriLife wheat breeding and variety trials near Bushland. (Texas A&M AgriLife drone photo by Shannon Baker)

In the High Plains, picks for full irrigation include TAM 113, TAM 114, TAM 304, Iba and Winterhawk. Top limited-irrigation picks are TAM 112, TAM 113, TAM 114, Iba, T158 and Winterhawk. Top dryland varieties are the TAM 112, TAM 113, TAM 114 and T158, along with the addition of two new ones this year, WB4721 and LCS Mint.

Dr. Calvin Trostle, AgriLife Extension agronomist in Lubbock, said WB Grainfield, Winterhawk and Iba were removed from the previous dryland list because their long-term performance has flattened out, while WB4721 and LCS Mint were added to the list.

“Pick” varieties with a minimum of three years in the Texas A&M AgriLife High Plains tests continue to yield 6-10 percent better as a group than all other varieties in both irrigated and dryland tests, according to the selection team.

Trostle said the experts also keep a two- and three-year “watch list” of varieties that might eventually make the Top Picks list. Denali, a Colorado line that was not entered in the 2017-2018 trials, was taken off the watch list this year and PlainsGold Avery and Long Branch were added for dryland production.

Dr. Jourdan Bell, AgriLife Extension agronomist in Amarillo, said Picks varieties are stable performers over several years, so producers are encouraged to consider them when purchasing new seed.

“Adding a Pick variety with a specific disease package or maturity that contrasts with your current variety would be a good complement to your overall program,” Bell said.
Across the Texas High Plains, much of the early wheat planted in September for dual-purpose production was drilled into good soil moisture resulting in good stands and good early forage production, she said. However, rain subsided in October, and much of the late wheat was dry sowed.

The drought persisted across the Texas High Plains with the winter of 2017-2018 being one of the driest winters on record. Due to drought and lack of forage, producers pulled cattle off dryland wheat earlier than anticipated.

Heavy fall forage production depleted soil water and deteriorated wheat conditions, especially on dryland acres, with many dryland fields not recovering, Bell said. With irrigation, many producers maintained forage and grain production. Some producers received localized rain in April and May that helped carry dryland wheat.

In several areas, dry-sowed winter wheat did not germinate until April, she said. Spring temperatures were above average, especially during pollination and early grain development. Yields of early planted ungrazed dryland wheat that established normally, if harvested, ranged from 10 to 20 bushels per acre.

“Amazingly, a few yields on dryland wheat topped 30 bushels per acre even though in-season rainfall was at best 2 inches,” Trostle said. “This is a testament to the value of deep soil moisture that carried the crop. Irrigated wheat ranged from 50 to 100 bushels per acre, depending on irrigation capacity.”

The AgriLife High Plains Wheat Picks over the years often only include one or two changes from previous years because multiyear data contributes to selection and wheat varieties tend to be available over many years, said Dr. Jackie Rudd, AgriLife Research wheat breeder in Amarillo.

“There can be good and bad years where a single variety might suffer or excel, but by taking the long-term look at them at multiple locations, we can better identify those that will have a more consistent performance,” Rudd said.

TAM 112 has had average performance most years and poor in 2017, but it was very good in 2018, he said. Due to greenbug tolerance and wheat curl mite/wheat streak mosaic virus tolerance, it continues to have an important role in High Plains wheat production.

Also, Rudd stressed this list is for grain production only. Although beardless TAM 204 is not on the picks list because of marginal bread-making quality, “it is an excellent choice for grazing.”

Full wheat variety testing results for the High Plains are posted on http://amarillo.tamu.edu; http://lubbock.tamu.edu; and http://varietytesting.tamu.edu.