Spring wheat variety performance trial results in the San Luis Valley, Colorado

Table 1. Soft white spring wheat variety performance trial at Center¹ in 2004.


Variety	Grain Yield²	Bushel Weight	Heading Date³	Grain Moisture	Plant Height	Grain Protein

	bu/ac	lbs/bu	(June)	%	in.	%
IDO599	142.4a	61.1	27.8	11.2	35.1	9.2
Alturas	136.8ab	61.3	33.0	11.5	32.1	8.5
Blanca	136.7ab	59.6	32.3	13.9	33.9	8.9
Centennial	135.4ab	62.2	27.3	11.2	32.9	9.0
IDO563	129.8b	61.6	22.5	11.7	34.2	9.2
Average	136.3	61.2	28.6	11.9	33.6	9.0
LSD_(0.10)	5.8	0.7	0.9	0.6	1.7	0.4
CV%	3.5	0.9	2.6	4.2	4.1	2.1

¹San Luis Valley Research Center, Center, CO. Grain yield based on 60 lbs/bushel and 12 % moisture.
²Tukey’s Test: yields followed by the same letters are not statistically different.
³Days after June 1.

Note: There was no lodging in this trial. There was, however, a severe soil problem which affected most of the plot area; reducing tillering, stunting plant height, and reducing yield of all varieties. Two plots were much more severely affected and were discarded. The entire area must have been affected almost equally since the trial resulted in good yields and acceptable variability. The grain yield coefficient of variation (CV= 3.5) means it was a good trial; results should be similar if the trial were repeated.

Site Information:

Date Planted: April 15                                                  Date Harvested: September 7
Irrigation: center pivot                                                 Seed Rate: 120 lbs/acre
Herbicide: Bronate @ 1 pt/ac                                        Row Spacing: 8-inch
Nitrogen: 70lb/ac + 30 lb/ac May 25 + 30 lb/ac June 1    Plot Size: 6 ft. x 35'; 9 rows planted 8 inches apart

Comments:

IDO563 yield was disappointing again this year. After producing the highest yield in 2001, this line has not compared well in 2003 and 2004. It is not now looked on to replace Centennial. Possibly IDO599 might be a replacement; however, it is taller and might lodge more than Centennial. It needs to be tested more where lodging is a problem.

Note that Blanca produced a yield essentially equal to Centennial. This might be expected where lodging is not a problem. However, Centennial should be better than Blanca when lodging is a problem.

Protein was low for all varieties. Thousand kernel weight (not shown) indicated Alturas and Blanca had large seed; IDO 599 and IDO 563 had small seed.

Table 1a. Five year (5-yr) averages, soft white spring wheat variety performance trial, 2000 - 2004.


Variety	Grain Yield¹	Bushel Weight	Heading Date²	Plant Height	Grain Protein

	bu/ac	lbs/bu	(June)	in.	%
Centennial	142.5	59.9	27.6	38.2	9.4
Blanca	140.3	57.3	31.2	40.9	9.4
Whitebird	138.7	59.2	31.3	40.7	9.2
Alturas	135.6	58.3	31.5	39.4	9.1
Average	136.8	59.7	30.0	39.3	9.2

¹Tukey’s Test: yields followed by the same letters are not statistically different.
²Days after June 1.

Researcher Comments:

No new soft white varieties have been found to replace Centennial. Centennial is still the highest yielding soft white variety; it has the best bushel weight, the earliest heading, the shortest height, and the most lodging resistance. The search continues, among experimental lines from ARS-Idaho, to find a good replacement variety.

Table 2. Hard spring wheat variety performance trial at Center¹ in 2004. Trial located on adjacent to SLV Research Center, Selters Farm leased by Joe Barela; the field was planted to durum wheat.


Variety	Wheat Type²	Grain Yield³	Bushel Weight	Heading Date⁴	Grain Moisture	Plant Height	Grain Protein

		bu/ac	lbs/bu	(June)	%	in.	%
Centennial	SWS	140.9a	61.4	22.2	9.6	33.0	11.2
Lolo	HWS	135.4ab	62.1	24.3	9.8	33.9	12.4
Jerome	HRS	134.9ab	61.8	20.5	9.6	34.5	13.3
YU995-231W	HWS	130.9abc	61.9	18.5	9.4	25.5	13.6
Oslo	HRS	130.7abc	60.7	20.3	9.7	33.9	12.6
ID377s	HWS	130.5abc	61.0	22.8	9.6	33.6	13.0
IDO597	HWS	127.7abcd	59.8	23.5	9.3	33.6	13.4
Plata	HWS	125.0bcd	59.5	25.5	9.1	30.6	13.2
IDO593	HRS	123.9bcd	59.3	22.3	9.1	33.3	13.4
Nora	HRS	121.3bcde	61.9	25.3	9.6	31.8	14.4
IDO592	HRS	120.0cde	59.3	22.0	9.1	33.3	13.2
WB 881	Durum	118.5cde	61.0	20.0	8.8	34.2	14.2
Winsome	HWS	117.7cde	57.7	31.3	8.9	31.5	12.4
XXX 1	Durum	113.4de	60.7	17.0	9.5	32.7	14.1
Yecora Rojo	HRS	108.2ef	60.6	18.8	9.6	24.9	14.3
Pristine	HWS	98.8f	62.3	17.8	10.2	32.1	15.2
XXX 2	Durum	97.8f	60.0	17.0	8.7	31.2	15.0
Average		122.1	60.6	21.7	9.4	32.0	13.5
LSD_(0.10)		6.7	0.8	2.2	0.5	1.8	0.9
CV%		4.6	0.9	7.1	3.4	4.0	3.8

¹San Luis Valley Research Center, Center, CO. Grain yield based on 60 lbs/bushel and 12 % moisture.
²Wheat Types: SWS is soft white spring; HWS is hard white spring; HRS is hard red spring wheat.
³Tukey’s Test: yields followed by the same letters are not statistically different.
⁴Days after June 1.

(This trial was unfair to early heading varieties; therefore, two durums are not identified. The trial was unfair to Rojo and Pristine too)

Site Information:

Trial Location: Selters Farm leased by Joe Barela; planted to durum wheat
Previous Crop: potatoes
Date Planted: April 14                          Date Harvested: September 8
Irrigation: center pivot                            Seed Rate: 120 lbs/acre except durum at 150 lbs/acre
Herbicide: Bronate @ 1 pt/ac                 Row Spacing: 8-inch
Nitrogen: 170 lbs/acre                           Plot Size: 6 ft. x 35'; 9 rows planted 8 inches apart

Comments:

Vegetative growth was adequate to produce good yields; the average of all varieties was 122 bu/acre. Even though yields were acceptable, pump irrigation water probably limited yield somewhat this year. The sprinkler pressure dropped considerably during the year. This seemed to have affected early heading varieties more severely. Early maturing varieties which tended to have low yields included varieties such as Pristine, Yecora Rojo, and two durums. One of these varieties, Pristine, produced sucker heads with late tillers. The trial had no lodging except for slight lodging in very susceptible, ID377s.

Seven varieties produced the highest yields this year: Centennial SWS, Lolo HWS, Jerome HRS, YU995-231W, Oslo HRS, ID377s HWS and IDO597 HWS. Lolo, YU995-231W, and ID377s are hard white varieties that produce excellent yields, comparable or better than Oslo HRS. For growers who have found a market for hard white wheat, consider YU995-231W. It had produced excellent yields; it is short stature, early maturing and has had excellent bushel weights.

Protein content was generally lower for varieties that produced high yields. Thousand kernel weight showed durums with large seed size; however, Pristine, Yecora Rojo, and Jerome also produced large seeds.

Table 2a. Five year (5-yr) averages, hard spring wheat variety performance trial, 2000 - 2004.


Variety	Wheat Type	Grain Yield¹	Bushel Weight	Heading Date²	Plant Height	Grain Protein

		bu/ac	lbs/bu	(June)	in.	%
Centennial	SWS	134.5	59.0	28.5	38.8	12.6
Lolo	HWS	133.2	60.5	27.6	40.6	12.5
Oslo	HRS	128.7	59.4	23.0	38.3	13.8
ID377s	HWS	121.9	58.8	25.3	38.9	13.4
WB 881	Durum	117.6	59.7	18.9	36.5	13.8
Yecora Rojo	HRS	117.6	60.2	20.6	29.0	14.3
Average		121.8	59.7	23.8	36.1	13.7

¹Grain yield based on 60 lbs/bushel and 12 % moisture.
²Days after June 1.

Researcher Comments:

Centennial, soft white spring, a check variety in this trial, produced the highest 5-year yield average yield, 134.5 bu/acre. It is quite late maturing compared to WB 881 and Yecora Rojo. Lolo is a hard white variety which is also fairly late. It produced 133 bu per acre. Oslo HRS has been a very consistent yielding variety and is medium maturity. ID377s is a specialty export variety which often lodges. WB 881 durum is a high quality durum not grown here because other durums yield better. Yecora Rojo is a short stature, early maturing hard red variety that sometimes yields much higher or lower than that shown.