New wheat cultivars for the high rainfall zone

Richard Richards, Allan Rattey and Susan Kleven

CSIRO Plant Industry

Keywords: wheat, high rainfall zone

Take Home Messages:

• Wheat cultivars are being bred to provide the farmers of the high rainfall zone with new, high yielding, disease resistant, world class milling wheat varieties

HRZ Wheats Pty ltd

The aim of HRZ Wheats P/L is to provide the farmers of the high rainfall zone with new, high yielding, disease resistant, world class milling wheat varieties.  Many of the wheat varieties available to farmers in the HRZ have been bred in the drier regions and consequently do not target more favourable growing conditions.  HRZ Wheats is dedicated to providing growers in the more favourable zones with higher yielding better adapted wheats with more flexible sowing options.

CSIRO is contracted to breed milling quality wheats for HRZ Wheats P/L.  Breeding is conducted in partnership with NZ Plant and Food Research in Christchurch.  Wheats bred for HRZ Wheats are tested extensively in yield trials throughout Australia as well as disease resistance screening and grain quality testing.  Breeding continues to generate a rich pipeline of material from which to release new cultivars.

The variety Forrest is the most recent release by HRZ Wheats.   It is a longer season spring wheat best suited to the longer growing season environments in Victoria and south east SA.  A summary of its characteristics are:

• High yield potential in the HRZ
• Suitable for sowing in April and May
• Only variety in Australia with resistance/tolerance to Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus (WSMV).
• Good foliar disease resistance based on durable resistance genes.
• Good resistance to black point
• Good test weight, large grains and low screenings
• Final classification APW quality in Victoria and SA

HRZ Wheats has a rich pipeline of elite lines being advanced in the breeding program.  The next release is expected to be a quicker maturing type more suited to May sowings.  Another line with unique quality attributes is being seed increased for growing in a closed loop arrangement.  A major feature of the program is to provide growers with a diversity of wheat varieties that can be sown early to capitalise on favourable growing conditions, or later, if the break of season is late or an opportunity can be captured.  All varieties will have high yield potential, a very good disease and grain quality package.  All varieties will be marketed through Seednet.

CSIRO-GRDC dual-purpose feed wheat

A separate program to HRZ Wheats P/L conducted jointly by CSIRO and GRDC is the breeding of feed wheats with a sowing window from March to June.  Early sown crops can be grazed during winter and the grain harvested at maturity or can be a grain only crop if planted later.  The most recent release from this program was Revenue.  Two new lines are currently being multiplied for commercial release.  Both have high yield and a very good disease resistance package.  The first will be a replacement for Mackellar and will have resistance to barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV).  The second is a very high yielding winter wheat.  Both will be suitable for grazing plus grain or for grain only.

Contact details

Richard Richards

CSIRO Plant Industry, Canberra

richard.richards@csiro.au