OSU variety tops 2012 wheat yield

With a yield of 157 bushels per acre, Oregon State University’s developing wheat variety number 08047p94 topped the charts in Whitman County samples grown by Washington State University researchers of this year’s winter wheat crop.

That yield was recorded from a university test plot near Lamont and helped the variety top yields in average production from the school’s five spots in lower-rainfall zones.

WSU tests a number of wheat varieties in different rainfall zones, and releases those results as the crops are harvested.

The goal, said Dr. Stephen Guy, WSU extension agronomist, is to provide farmers with data they can use when deciding what variety to plant. That data has been stored for the last 12 years on WSU’s web site.

“The important thing to keep in mind is that one variety does not fit every situation,” said Guy.

Farmers need to keep in mind that any variable in any field will change how a specific variety of wheat will perform.

“Find a spot that’s most like your farm and get as much information as possible to see what can apply to you,” Guy advised farmers.

ARS Amber is a common soft white wheat released this year that performed well across all rain zones. The WSU product yielded an average of 104 bushels per acre in the western zone plots that receive 12 to 16 inches of annual rainfall, 117 bushels in the 16-to-20-inch zone and 124 bushels in the higher-rainfall eastern zone.

Guy advised a club variety can help offset soil variables like disease prevalance and moisture.

“All around, I think they’re generally the top varieties,” said Steve Van Vleet, Whitman County’s ag specialist with the extension service.

Van Vleet noted clubs have good disease resistance, produce high quality crops and yield well. Especially, he noted, Cara and Chukar.

Among clubs this year, Chrystal produced better yields in wetter climates while Crescent was the top club in the drier zones of western Whitman County. Both were developed under Kim Campbell’s program at WSU.

Crescent produced average yields of 120 bushels per acre in mid-moisture zones like St. John and around Pomeroy and 107 bushels per acre in drier zones like Lamont and Dusty.

WSU’s Cara also produced solid yields out west, with 113 bushels per acre in the mid-range zone and 104 bushels per acre in the drier zone. Cara also produced 123 bushels per acre on the university’s Colton test plot this year.

One contributor to this year’s strong harvest, said Guy, was the relative containment of the stripe rust fungus that hit crops hard the past two years.

In his stripe rust update from earlier this month, Xianming Chen, WSU’s rust expert, reported “damage from rust of winter wheat crops should be very low.”

Chen said, despite some hot spots that cause entire crop loss, damage from rust struck about one percent of winter wheat crops, .5 percent of spring wheat crops and three percent of barley crops.

Information on spring crops will be updated on WSU’s web site shortly after they are harvested.

http://variety.wsu.

edu.