MN Winter Wheate

James Anderson and Jochum Wiersma

Results of the state yield trials are summarized in Table 6 and 7. Hard red winter wheat acreage in Minnesota is very small with 25,000 acres harvested in 2004. The average yield was 40 bu/A., down 2 bu/A from 2003. There continues to be interest in Minnesota in planting winter wheat after either canola or soybeans.  The success of winter wheat is largely dependent on its ability to survive the Minnesota winters.

Research on the Canadian plains has shown that planting winter wheat in standing canola stubble using no-till methods can decrease winterkill considerably. The trapped snow provides additional protection that increases the odds that the young seedlings will survive.  Research in Northwest Minnesota has demonstrated that winter wheat can successfully be established immediately following soybeans when planted around October 1. The winter hardiness of the variety was a larger factor in reducing winterkill than the tillage system (no-till versus conventional) and the ability to trap snow. Thus, for northern Minnesota, a winter hardiness rating of moderately high is a minimum. For southern Minnesota a moderate rating is adequate in most years.

Winter wheat cultivars head earlier than spring wheat cultivars. All winter wheat cultivars should be considered susceptible to very susceptible to FHB.  However, winter wheat has a better chance to escape damage to FHB, compared to spring wheat, because of its earlier heading. Most varieties are also susceptible to very susceptible to the leaf diseases other than the rusts. The use of fungicides to control these diseases and/or suppress FHB may be warranted.

In 2004, ‘CDC Buteo’ was added to the trials.  ‘Expedition’, a 2002 release from SDSU was tested under its experimental designation in 2003 and its data is reported for the first time this year. CDC Buteo was developed at the Crop Development Centre at the University of Saskatchewan and released in 2001.  Like CDC Falcon and CDC Raptor, CDC Buteo is a semi-dwarf hard red winter wheat variety.  CDC Buteo is sold by SeCan. Overall, Jerry has done well in both single and multiple year comparisons and CDC Buteo did well in its first year.

Table 6. Relative grain yield of Hard Red Winter Wheat varieties in Minnesota in single year (2004) and multiple year comparisons (2002 2004).

	Crookston		St. Paul1			Lamberton				Morris				Roseau		State
Variety	1 yr.		1 yr.	2 yr.		1 yr.	2 yr.	3 yr.		1 yr.	2 yr.	3 yr.		1 yr.		1 yr.	2 yr.	3 yr.
	-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- % ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nekota	84		–	–		46	71	–		–2	–2	–		86		–2	–2	–
Expedition	97		–	–		49	61	–		–2	–2	–		82		–2	–2	–
Arapahoe	116		–	108		74	91	97		90	100	101		81		90	100	101
Millennium	104		–	111		108	111	112		104	110	109		113		108	111	110
Seward	108		–	99		115	111	108		90	78	86		119		108	99	101
CDC Buteo	115		–	–		116	–	–		110	–	–		114		114	–	–
Ransom	99		–	96		122	116	120		115	97	106		110		112	103	108
Windstar	110		–	130		124	118	118		117	124	117		76		107	113	115
CDC Falcon	103		–	–		122	129	–		82	96	–		123		108	112	–
Roughrider	87		–	80		99	88	84		110	85	87		92		97	85	85
Jerry	116		–	123		117	121	119		87	97	108		110		108	110	115
CDC Raptor	96		–	–		105	105	–		97	105	–		97		99	103	–
Mean (bu/A)	115.1		–	58.9		53.6	55.7	53.8		52.4	52.9	56.1		93.3		78.6	67.9	65.6
LSD (0.05)	17.2			20.3		20.8				37.5				38.8		19.4

¹ 2 yr. data is 2002 and 2003. 2004 was abandoned due to winterkill.
²   Nekota and Expedition headed 5-7 days earlier than other varieties at Morris in 2004, suffered severe damage from leaf rust and broken straw.
     Yield was less than 15% of the mean and this data is not included in these tables.

Table 7. Agronomic characteristics of Hard Red Winter Wheat varieties in Minnesota in multiple year comparisons (2002-2003).

					Test Weight			Protein
Variety	Days to Heading1	Plant Height	Winter Hardiness2	Straw Strength	1 yr	2 yr		1 yr	2 yr	Leaf Rust2	Stem Rust2
	- days -	inches			-- lbs/bu --			---- % ----
Nekota	171	30.8	M	medium	57.3	59.5		12.8	12.7	S	-
Expedition	172	31.4	M	medium	57.5	59.2		13.0	13.0	S	R
Arapahoe	173	34.1	M	m. strong	56.7	58.5		13.4	13.2	MR	MR
Millennium	174	34.9	M	strong	59.2	60.3		13.2	13.2	MR	R
Seward	175	40.3	MH	medium	59.1	60.1		11.9	12.0	S	MR
CDC Buteo	176	36.8	MH	strong	60.5	–		12.5	–	MS	–
Ransom	176	39.3	MH	medium	58.9	59.5		12.9	12.9	MR	MR
Windstar	176	34.4	M	strong	57.3	59.0		12.7	12.6	MR-MS	MR
CDC Falcon	176	31.0	MH	strong	58.9	60.2		12.5	12.6	MS	R
Roughrider	176	44.0	VH	medium	58.8	59.8		13.2	13.5	S	R
Jerry	177	38.9	MH	m. strong	58.4	59.4		13.2	13.2	MR	R
CDC Raptor	177	34.8	MH	strong	55.5	57.6		12.3	12.3	MS	-
Mean	175	35.9			58.2	58.8		12.8	12.8

¹ Days after January 1
² Winter hardiness rating is a relative ranking that includes data from ND, NE and SD: VH = very  high, H = high, MH = moderately high, M = moderate.
³ R = resistant, MR = moderately resistant, MS = moderately susceptible, S = susceptible.