Jan./Feb. 1998
Two Private HRS Varieties
May Perform Well Under Scab
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Prairie Grains is the
official publication of
the Minnesota
Association of
Wheat Growers,
North Dakota Grain
Growers Association,
South Dakota Wheat,
Inc., and the
Minnesota Barley
Growers Association.
Gunner is being marketed as "the high protein scab fighter," by its developer, Agripro Seeds. Bob Knudson, manager of northern wheat seed for the company, expects distributors to sell out of Gunner early this winter.
Knudson says Gunner has the best scab tolerance available among current spring wheat varieties, with high protein and excellent test weight. It is a taller variety that is later maturing with straw strength comparable to Sharp. Its scab tolerance is "as good as there is for us right now, until we come up with something better," he says.
Sharpshooter is a new variety of hard red spring wheat developed from the widely-grown variety Sharp, and a Chinese spring wheat variety called Sumai 3. Its development was funded in part by the Minnesota wheat checkoff, administered by the Minnesota Wheat Research and Promotion Council.
After its first year of field performance, opinions are mixed. Some say Sharpshooter has better scab tolerance than many other wheat varieties, including Sharp, while others say that Sharpshooter will perform no better than Sharp.
Standing behind Sharpshooter is Greg Fox, the Western Plant Breeders crop scientist who developed the variety, who says Sharpshooter will come out of a high-scab growing season better than Sharp.
In appearance and growth habit, the early-heading Sharpshooter is almost identical to Sharp. Both are resistant to stem and leaf rust. One differentiating characteristic is that Sharpshooter has tighter glumes (the part enclosing the seed) than Sharp, says Fox.
Jochum Wiersma, U of M extension small grains specialist, says that he finds Sharpshooter comparable to Sharp in every way, including its response to scab. "Whether growers choose Sharp or Sharpshooter will probably be a matter of cost," he says.
Steve Ross, of Ross Seed Company, Fisher, Minn., which contracted production of Sharpshooter with seed growers, said that the majority of the growers were "quite pleased" with what they saw. The varieties Russ and Gunner performed equally to Sharpshooter, he says. Lars generally outyielded Sharpshooter, but quality was similar. "Sharpshooter won't solve anyone's scab problem, but it adds tolerance," says Ross.
Grains Magazine January 1998