2002 Small Grain Variety Trials

Malheur Experiment Station

Information for Sustainable Agriculture

2002 Small Grain Variety Trials

Eric P. Eldredge, Clinton C. Shock, Russell S. Karow, John P. Bassinette,

and Lamont D. Saunders

Malheur Experiment Station

Oregon State University

Ontario, OR

Introduction

Malheur Experiment Station provides one location for the statewide cereal grain variety testing program at sites across Oregon. This location provides a furrow-irrigated site for comparing cereal grain variety performance. Plant breeders can use this information to compare the field performance of advanced lines with released varieties in varied production regions. Growers can use this information to make decisions about which of the varieties in different market classes of wheat, barley, and triticale perform best in this area.

Methods

The previous crop was sweet corn. After harvest, the corn stalks were flailed, the field was disked, and the soil was sampled and analyzed. Pre-plant fertilizer was broadcast at 50 lb N/acre,160 lb P₂O₅/acre, 178 lb K₂O/acre, 190 lb S/acre, 10 lb Zn/acre, 2 lb Cu/acre, 4 lb Mn/acre, and 1 lb B/acre. The soil was deep ripped, plowed, and groundhogged to prepare the seedbed. The field was corrugated into 30-inch rows.

2002 Winter Grain Variety Trials

The Winter Cereal Trial was comprised of 8 club wheats, 1 durum wheat, 3 hard white winter wheats, 4 hard red winter wheats, 26 soft white winter wheats, and 2 triticales. Seed of all varieties was treated with Raxil fungicide and Gaucho insecticide. Seeds were planted October 18, 2001 with a plot seeder in plots 5 x 20 ft, then the field was re-corrugated. Grain was planted at a rate of 30 viable seeds/ft², which corresponds to approximately 110 lb/acre. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with three replications.

The winter barley trial was comprised of seven six-row barleys, treated with Raxil fungicide and Gaucho insecticide, and planted at 30 viable seeds/ft². The winter barley trial was planted on October 18, 2001, in a randomized complete block design with three replications. On April 10 urea prills fertilizer was broadcast over both winter trials to apply 50 lb N/acre. Broadleaf weeds were controlled with Bronate at 1qt/acre applied April 12. The field was furrow irrigated for 24 hours on March 22, April 29, May 17, and June 3. Alleys 3.3 ft wide were cut with a sicklebar mower on June 26. Grain samples were harvested on July 16 with a Hege plot combine.

2002 Spring Cereals Variety Trials: Hard Wheat, Soft Wheat, and Feed Grains

A soil sample was taken from the field on March 1, 2002. The soil analysis showed ammonia and nitrate forms of N in the top 2 ft of soil totaled 78 lb N/acre, with 15 ppm extractable P, 394 ppm K, pH 7.3, and 2 percent organic matter. The 2002 spring cereals trials were divided into three separate trials; a hard wheat variety trial, a soft wheat variety trial, and a spring feed-grains trial, in order to allow nitrogen fertilizer to be applied separately to the hard wheat trial to promote higher protein content. The spring grain trials were beside the winter grain trials, and had the same field preparation including fall fertilizer. The field was corrugated into 30-inch beds and left through the winter. On March 5, 2002, preplant fertilizer was broadcast to supply 36 lb N/acre, 3.6 lb Zn/acre, 0.71 lb Cu/acre, and 0.71 lb B/acre.

Seeds of varieties were planted on March 13 with a plot seeder, in plots 5 x 20 ft, at a seeding rate of 30 live seeds/ft², which corresponds to a seeding rate of approximately 110 lb/acre. Broadleaf weeds were controlled in the spring grain trials with Bronate at 1 qt/acre applied on May 12. The field was re-corrugated on 30-inch rows immediately after planting, and irrigated on March 22, April 29, May 17, and June 3. The spring hard wheats trial received an additional 50 lb N/acre before anthesis. Immediately before the May 17 irrigation, a calibrated scoop of urea prills was placed in each irrigation furrow at the top end of every plot in the hard spring wheat trial to provide water-run nitrogen fertilizer.

The spring hard wheat variety trial was comprised of 10 hard red spring wheats, and 8 hard white spring wheats, with 2 soft white spring wheats included as checks. The spring soft and club wheat variety trial was comprised of nine soft white wheat varieties and two club wheats, with one hard red, and one hard white wheat included as checks. The spring barley trial was comprised of four two-row malting varieties, three two-row feed varieties, two oat varieties, and two hull-less oat varieties. Seed of all spring grain was treated with Raxil fungicide and Gaucho insecticide. Plots were replicated three times in both of the spring wheat trials and in the spring feed grains trial.

Alleys 3.3 ft wide were cut with a sicklebar mower on June 27-28. Grain samples were harvested in the spring cereal trials on July 17 with a Hege plot combine. All of the grain samples from the winter and spring variety trials were taken to Oregon State University at Corvallis where they were cleaned with a Peltz rub-bar cleaner and weighed. Moisture content, test weight, protein content, and 1,000-kernel weight were measured. Data were analyzed and tabulated, and data from each location of the statewide cereal trials were posted on the internet at www.css.orst.edu/cereals as they were completed.

Results

At the Malheur Experiment Station in 2002, spring weather was cool and dry, followed by near record heat in early July. The temperature on July 10 was 102^oF, followed by 107^o, 106^o, 107^o, 98^o, 97^o, 96^o, and 102^oF on subsequent days. All the cereal trials grew very well, with very little lodging. A thunderstorm with strong wind and 0.28 inch of rain on the evening of June 27, and another thunderstorm on July 7 with 0.1 inch of rain, contributed to the lodging that was observed. Some grain fields in the vicinity of Malheur Experiment Station were badly lodged at harvest this year. Grain maturity in these trials was early due to the unusually high temperatures in July.

Winter Cereals Trial

Among the soft white winter wheat varieties, the highest yielding was 'OR941550' at 145 bu/acre, which was not significantly higher than the next 15 soft white wheat varieties (Table 1). Very little lodging was observed in this trial. One plot of 'Temple' club wheat was 40 percent lodged, and one plot of 'Gary' soft white wheat was 20 percent lodged.

Winter Barley Trial

In the winter barley variety trial 'Strider' at 5,452 lb/acre, and 'Kold' at 4,550 lb/acre were among the highest yielding six-row feed varieties (Table 2). The experimental lines 'Stab-113' at 4,487 lb/acre and 'Kab-37' at 4,270 lb/acre were the highest yielding six-row varieties that are also being evaluated for malting. Plots of 'Stab 47' and 'Stab-7' were ruined by red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) feeding.

Spring Feed Grains Trial

Spring barley yield reached 6,815 lb/acre for the two-row feed variety 'Farmington', which was significantly higher than the other varieties in the trial (Table 3). The highest yielding hull-less oat variety was 'Lamont' at 3,871 lb/acre, with 15.6 percent protein. There was no lodging in the spring barley trial, but 'Orca' was damaged by red-winged blackbirds.

Spring Soft Wheat Trial

The trial average yield was 110 bu/acre, and there were no differences in yield at the 5 percent level of statistical probability (Table 4). The club wheat 'IDO 556' produced 110 bu/acre. Protein content ranged from 10.2 percent for the hard red wheat 'Jefferson' to 8.0 percent for the soft white wheat 'IDO 526'. There was very little lodging in the spring soft wheat trial with 7 percent lodging in plots of 'Zak', and 3 percent lodging in 'Wawawai', 'Penawawa', and 'Alpowa'.

Spring Hard Wheat Trial

Yield of hard spring wheats averaged 103 bu/acre (Table 5). In the hard red market class, the varieties with yield higher than 100 bu/acre were 'WPB 936' at 111 bu/acre, 'Tara' at 110 bu/acre, 'Yecora Rojo' at 108 bu/acre, 'IDO 557' at 102 bu/acre, 'Jefferson' at 102 bu/acre, and 'Hank' at 101 bu/acre. None of the hard red wheats attained a protein content of 14 percent, the standard protein percentage required for hard red wheats to receive a premium market price.

Among the highest yielding varieties in the spring hard wheat trial was 'Lolo' hard white wheat with 116 bu/acre, which was not significantly higher yield than 'ID377S' at 113 bu/acre, 'Winsome' at 109 bu/acre, 'Macon' at 107 bu/acre, 'WA 007900' at 102 bu/acre or 'OR 4970018' at 102 bu/acre. 'Alpowa' soft white spring wheat, included in this hard wheat trial as a check, produced 119 bu/acre. Protein among the hard white spring wheats ranged from 8.6 to 9.8 percent.

There was very little lodging in the spring hard wheat trial, with one plot each of 'Sunco', 'Scarlet', and 'OR 4970025' lodged 10 percent. Split applications of nitrogen fertilizer, or an application of nitrogen at, or just before, anthesis (the beginning of flowering), have not reliably increased hard wheat protein levels in irrigated cropping systems to 14 percent and above. Hard wheats grown in dryland regions usually have acceptable protein content, but the low grain yield typical of dryland systems would be economically unacceptable for growers in our area, compared to the productivity of irrigated soft white wheats.

Table 1. Winter wheat and triticale yield, test weight, protein percentage, thousand kernel weight (TKW), height at maturity, and day of 50 percent heading, Malheur Experiment Station, Oregon State University, Ontario, OR, 2002.

	Market		Test
Variety	class*	Yield	weight	Protein	TKW	Height	Heading
		bu/acre^†	lb/bu	%	g	in	day
Coda	Club	130	61.4	7.6	34.7	39	150
Rely	Club	127	59.4	7.4	33.4	40	151
Hiller	Club	125	57.3	8.1	33.2	39	150
Rohde	Club	123	61.2	7.4	34.4	37	150
Edwin	Club	122	62.2	8.1	33.9	44	150
Chukar (WA7853)	Club	119	57.8	7.2	32.4	40	152
Temple	Club	118	59.5	8.1	34.5	42	149
Bruehl	Club	116	57.8	7.8	35.9	39	153
Connie	Durum	123	64.3	8.5	50.7	41	146
Boundary	HR	128	60.9	8.3	41.4	43	150
DW (IDO-513)	HR	122	62.5	8.3	33.9	41	148
IDO-571	HR	119	61.9	8.7	35.1	45	148
IDO-517	HR	109	63.0	8.4	35.0	38	147
OR 942496	HW	127	63.8	8.3	44.0	44	147
Gary (ID550)	HW	123	60.0	7.4	38.7	46	153
OR 850513-8	HW	106	61.8	8.2	37.1	41	149
OR 941550	SW	145	61.6	8.1	42.6	39	148
ID-9134302A	SW	144	60.6	7.7	42.1	40	151
ARS-96277	SW	140	61.6	8.6	45.4	40	150
ID17113A	SW	138	60.4	7.6	38.7	40	150
Madsen/Stephens	SW	134	60.7	7.8	45.0	40	150
OR 941904	SW	134	61.0	7.5	39.0	41	150
OR 2010051	CF^‡-SW	134	60.7	8.4	44.3	39	149
IDO-587	CF-SW	131	60.9	7.9	50.4	38	146
Weatherford	SW	131	60.5	7.7	40.2	39	151
Tubbs (OR 939526)	SW	131	59.8	7.8	43.3	41	150
Madsen	SW	130	60.5	7.6	39.1	41	150
IDO-588	CF-SW	129	61.0	8.3	49.0	42	145
Brundage-96	SW	127	59.4	7.3	39.9	39	149
Hubbard (ID10420A)	SW	127	60.6	7.1	40.7	44	149
Finch (WA7855)	SW	126	60.3	7.4	37.6	39	151
Gene	SW	126	59.8	8.8	43.8	37	147
OR 951431	SW	125	61.4	8.1	41.0	41	149
OR 9900548	SW	124	59.8	7.2	44.3	39	149
OR 2010010	CF-SW	123	60.8	8.7	45.7	38	147
Malcolm	SW	123	60.9	7.3	45.9	40	149
Stephens	SW	123	59.7	7.7	49.5	37	147
Yamhill	SW	120	59.1	7.8	43.8	45	150
Foote	SW	118	61.1	8.1	46.8	40	148
IDO-576	SW	116	61.2	7.6	35.7	39	149
Rod	SW	106	59.9	7.1	41.1	36	151
Lambert	SW	105	60.3	8.2	45.8	46	148
Alzo	Trit	146	57.8	7.6	44.1	51	145
Bogo	Trit	128	55.4	7.6	37.9	47	148
Mean		125	60.4	7.8	40.6	41	149
LSD (0.05)		20	0.6	0.5	1.9

*HR = hard red, HW = hard white, SW = soft white, Trit = triticale.

^†Adjusted to 10 percent moisture, 60 lb/bu.

^‡CF = Clearfield herbicide resistant.

Table 2. Winter barley yield, test weight, protein percentage, thousand kernel weight (TKW), height at maturity, day of 50 percent heading, and lodging percentage, Malheur Experiment Station, Oregon State University, Ontario, OR, 2002.

Market
Test

Heading

Variety
class* Yield weight Protein TKW Height day

lb/acre^† lb/bu % g in

Strider
6RF 5,452 51.4 9.1 40.9 42 136

Kold
6RF 4,550 51.7 8.9 35.2 37 138

Scio
6RF 3,939 50.4 9.1 39.6 40 135

Stab-113
6RF/M 4,487 51.3 8.5 34.6 38 134

Kab-37
6RF/M 4,270 51.4 8.5 36.7 38 140

Stab-7
6RF/M 1,250^‡ 52.5 9.4 36.7 42 131

Stab-47
6RF/M 576 ^‡ 52.6 9.7 36.5 45 132

Mean

3,503 51.6 9 37.1 40 135

LSD (0.05)

1,326 NS5 NS 3.4

*6RF = six-row feed, 6RF/M = six-row feed, may be evaluated for malt.

^†Adjusted to 10 percent moisture.

^‡Yieldreduced by heavy red-winged blackbird feeding.

Table 3. Spring barley and oat yield, test weight, protein percentage, thousand kernel weight (TKW), height at maturity, and day of 50 percent heading, Malheur Experiment Station, Oregon State University, Ontario, OR, 2002.

Market
Test

Heading

Variety
class* Yield weight Protein TKW Height day

lb/acre^† lb/bu % g in

Farmington
2RF 6,815 52.1 9.0 39.5 31 159

Xena
2RF 3,262 55.0 10.3 43.8 39 152

Orca
2RF 1,754 54.2 13.4 49.2 43 142

Harrington
2RM 4,757 52.3 11.2 41.1 41 156

Bancroft
2RM 3,202 55.0 12.2 45.0 40 152

Chinook
2RM 2,943 55.1 12.9 43.8 41 155

Garnet
2RM 2,796 51.8 11.5 43.2 39 160

Lamont
H Oat 3,871 44.0 15.6 21.1 51 164

Provena
H Oat 3,157 47.3 17.5 18.3 47 163

Monida
Oat 4,070 33.2 12.6 27.9 51 161

Cayuse
Oat 3,742 38.6 13.1 30.2 44 160

Mean

3,700 48.9 12.6 36.6 42 157

LSD (0.05)

1,585 2.5 1.6 2.7

*2R = two-row, F= feed, M = malt, H Oat = hull-less oat.

^†Adjusted to 10 percent moisture.

Table 4. Spring soft white wheat yield, test weight, protein percentage, thousand Kernel weight (TKW), height at maturity, and day of 50 percent heading, Malheur Experiment Station, Oregon State University, Ontario, OR, 2002.

	Market		Test				Heading
Variety	class*	Yield	weight	Protein	TKW	Height	day
		bu/acre^†	lb/bu	%	g	in
IDO 556	Club	110	62.0	9.4	28.8	38	156
WA 007902	Club	109	61.0	8.5	32.8	41	155
Jefferson	HR	104	62.9	10.2	38.6	39	152
Winsome	HW	105	62.2	8.5	35.5	39	156
Challis	SW	116	61.8	8.1	39.9	37	153
Alpowa	SW	116	63.5	8.5	40.4	41	153
Jubilee	SW	115	60.9	8.9	33.5	41	155
Penawawa	SW	114	62.8	8.9	36.1	40	154
IDO 526	SW	113	61.3	8.0	37.8	37	152
WA 007905	SW	112	61.6	8.2	41.8	45	154
Whitebird	SW	112	60.9	8.3	31.8	42	156
ZAK	SW	109	61.2	8.8	38.7	43	157
Wawawai	SW	100	62.5	8.8	42.2	45	153
Mean		110	61.8	8.7	36.7	41	154
LSD (0.05)		NS^‡	0.7	0.7	3.6

*HR = hard red, HW = hard white, SW = soft white.

^†Adjusted to 10 percent moisture, 60 lb/bu.

^‡ NS = not significant.

Table 5. Spring hard wheat yield, test weight, protein percentage, thousand kernel weight (TKW), height at maturity, and day of 50 percent heading, Malheur Experiment Station, Oregon State University, Ontario, OR, 2002.

	Market		Test				Heading
Variety	class*	Yield	weight	Protein	TKW	Height	day
		bu/acre^†	lb/bu	%	g	in
WPB-936	HR	111	63.5	10.0	42.0	37.0	153
Tara	HR	110	63.6	9.9	42.9	43.0	150
Yecora Rojo	HR	108	65.2	9.6	43.3	33.0	150
IDO 557	HR	102	63.1	10.1	33.4	35.0	151
Jefferson	HR	102	63.0	10.0	38.3	37.0	152
Hank	HR	101	62.9	10.8	43.2	37.0	151
IDO 566	HR	100	62.9	9.4	39.9	39.0	149
Scarlet	HR	98	63.3	9.5	39.7	45.0	156
Iona	HR	95	64.2	9.5	39.0	42.0	153
WA 007859	HR	88	63.3	11.0	41.1	43.0	153
Lolo	HW	116	64.2	9.6	41.8	39.0	155
ID 377S	HW	113	63.9	9.2	35.6	38.0	155
Winsome	HW	109	62.2	8.6	36.4	36.0	156
Macon	HW	107	64.0	9.4	39.3	40.0	152
WA 007900	HW	102	65.4	9.0	39.4	39.0	152
OR 4970018	HW	102	65.1	9.5	36.7	42.0	154
OR 4970025	HW	91	62.9	9.5	36.9	30.0	156
Sunco	HW	91	63.9	9.8	35.1	38.0	157
Alpowa	SW	119	63.7	8.5	37.5	39.0	153
Penawawa	SW	104	63.0	7.8	37.6	39.0	154
Mean		103	63.6	9.5	38.9	39.0	153
LSD (0.05)		16	0.8	1.1	3.5