New winter wheat variety released

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BROOKINGS, S.D. ? South Dakota wheat growers will soon have access to a new hard red winter wheat variety. After more than 10 years in development, the SDSU Agricultural Experiment Station recently released the new variety ? Ideal.

Selected for its yield, disease resistance and standability, Ideal has a lot to offer growers, says Bill Berzonsky, associate professor of winter wheat breeding at South Dakota State University.

?In regional trials, Ideal was a top-ranked variety in yield as well as disease resistance,? Berzonsky says of the variety?s resistance to leaf and stem rust, tan spot and fusarium head blight.

Named for Ideal, a small farming community in central South Dakota where many acres of wheat are produced each year, Berzonsky says the variety was many years in the making.

?It?s a long process. Genetically speaking, developing a new wheat variety is like playing a card game. We shuffle the genetic deck and select the best traits to end up with the best hand possible,? Berzonsky says of the winter wheat variety, which is the first to be released from the SDSU Agriculture Experiment Station since 2008. ?This research and development would not be possible without the support of the South Dakota Wheat Commission through wheat checkoff dollars. This support plays an important role in the wheat breeding efforts of the South Dakota Agriculture Experiment Station.?

Read more at http://www.agweek.com/event/article/id/19460/
 
 
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