Farm406

15 farm406 BOZEMAN – A pair of new winter wheat varieties soon to be released by Montana State University breeders are designed to help address two issues that plague wheat farmers across the state, sawflies and stripe rust fungus, while improving crop yields. e Bobcat and Flathead varieties will be released this fall from the Montana Foundation Seed Program, according to veteran breeders Phil Bruckner and Jim Berg. e new varieties will be used to produce registered and certified seed through certified growers across Montana and should be available for purchase by the public between the 2020 and 2021 growing seasons. Two varieties released in 2018, Ray and Four0six, are now available for purchase statewide. Bruckner and Berg have a combined six decades of wheat breeding expertise and have made thousands of crosses in their careers to address various characteristics of winter wheat, from maturation date to head size or resistance to a particular pest or disease. Bobcat, they said, is the result of what the pair called a "nothing-special" kind of cross back in 2007, a blending of two solid-stemmed wheat varieties that had never been released on their own. "ere was nothing distinguished about the parents, but when they got exposed to sawfly, there were only two lines standing in the field: Warhorse and Bobcat," Bruckner said, referring to another MSU variety released in 2013. Wheat stem sawflies bore into the stems of the wheat plant to lay their eggs, weakening the stem and oen causing significant economic losses for wheat farmers. Solid-stemmed wheat varieties were developed to help combat this, though they trade insect resistance for yield, generally producing less than hollow-stemmed varieties. Increased sawfly resistance, along with yield improvement, is still a goal of many wheat breeding enterprises. Bobcat stands out, Bruckner said, for having higher yields than Warhorse, which is the standard for sawfly resistance in Montana and the leading solid-stemmed variety in the state. "Of course, it's named Bobcat, so we have prey high hopes for it," said Bruckner with a laugh. "We wouldn't name just any variety that. You only get one Bobcat." Flathead, the second new variety soon to be released, is named for the area where it was developed. It was bred for resistance to a fungus that has caused serious problems for wheat growers in the area: stripe rust. Stripe rust was never much of a concern in Montana until 2008, when an epidemic wiped out an entire line of MSU winter wheat called Genou. e area around Flathead Lake and near Kalispell oen sees more stripe rust than other areas of the state, which is why Flathead wheat was developed there. Flathead comes from a cross between MSU's 2005 Yellowstone variety, known for its high yield potential, and a Washington State spring wheat that carried the two genes known to help combat stripe rust. Varieties with those two genes are impervious to all known types of stripe rust, Bruckner said. Flathead also has the unique aribute of an earlier maturation date, a first for the MSU library of winter wheat varieties. e aim is to offer growers a catalog of seed that provides something for every need within Montana's 2 million acres of winter wheat planted each year. "ere's a lot of places in the state where early varieties are advantageous," said Berg. "Flathead has a combination of good yield, early maturity and shorter stature, and it makes a good loaf of bread, plus that stripe rust resistance." MSU Foundation Seed Program to Release Two New Winter Wheat Varieties By Reagan Colyer MSU Photo by Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez

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