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Cultivar
Development
The soft white winter wheat breeding program released the cultivar
'Brundage.' Brundage is a short semi-dwarf wheat with excellent
yield potential for the irrigated regions of southern Idaho. Brundage
also has excellent end-use quality, especially for the domestic
cookie and cracker industry. This work is funded by the Idaho Agricultural
Experiment Station and the Idaho Wheat Commission. Researchers:
R. S. Zemetra,
M. Lauver and J. Hansen
Transformation
of Wheat
Three soft white winter wheats, Daws, Lambert and Brundage, have
been successfully transformed with genes for disease resistance
using particle bombardment. This is the first successful transformation
of soft white winter cultivars adapted to the Pacific Northwest.
Plants with coat protein genes from either Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus
or Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus are in their second year of field testing.
Virus resistance has been observed in some of the transgenic populations.
This work is funded by the Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station
and the Idaho Wheat Commission. Researchers: R.
S. Zemetra, J.Hansen and P. McCarthy
Biological
Risk of Herbicide Resistance in Wheat
Jointed goatgrass is a severe weed problem in wheat production areas
in the western United States. The development of herbicide resistant
wheats offers a potential method for controlling jointed goatgrass.
Of concern is the potential for the transfer of the herbicide resistance
into jointed goatgrass. Self-fertility was restored after two backcrosses
of jointed goatgrass onto a wheat x jointed goatgrass in the greenhouse.
Both first and second backcrosses were also found to occur naturally
in the field. This indicates that it is possible for genes in traits
such as herbicide resistance to be transferred from wheat to jointed
goatgrass. This limits the use of herbicide resistant wheat to eliminate
jointed goatgrass unless management plans are developed to minimize
the potential for this form of gene transfer. This work is funded
by the Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station and a grant from National
Jointed Goatgrass Initiative Program. Researchers: R.
S. Zemetra, J. Hansen, and C. Mallory Smith (Oregon State University)
For more information contact: Robert
S. Zemetra
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