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February 17, 2009
With consumer tastes continually
changing, with growers and processors squeezing every
conceivable cent from input costs, and with pests evolving into
ever-more-aggressive forms, plant breeding dare not stand still.
At the University of Idaho
College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS), it doesn’t.
CALS breeders have released six new varieties of potatoes,
wheat, and beans since fall 2008. They include:
- Classic Russet: a
high-yielding, early-maturing russet potato with attractive
tubers and outstanding culinary qualities that could replace
the Russet Norkotah
- Alpine Russet: a
late-season russet potato that can be successfully processed
out of long-term storage, like Russet Burbank, but that
exceeds it in yields and fry quality
- Clearwater Russet:
a late-maturing russet potato with a high percentage of U.S.
No. 1s, resistance to low-temperature sweetening, and
exceptional processing quality
- UICF-Lambert: a
soft white winter wheat that performs much like Lambert—a UI
variety released in the 1990s—and that offers the highest
level of tolerance to imazamox currently available to wheat
producers
- VCW 54 and VCW
55: two dry beans derived from the scarlet runner bean
that CALS breeder Shree Singh intends for worldwide use in
transferring white mold resistance to different market
classes
CALS agronomist Jeff Stark, who
coordinates the Tri-State Potato Variety Program, calls the trio
of new russets “definite improvements over what’s available.”
All are joint releases with the USDA Agricultural Research
Service, Oregon State University, and Washington State
University.
New Aberdeen-based wheat breeder Jianli Chen is focusing on
heat-, drought-, and pest-resistant varieties as well as on
varieties that tolerate herbicides and that meet the distinct
demands of domestic, Asian, and biofuel markets. Topnotch
varieties are essential to the profitability and sustainability
of Idaho grain growers, Chen says.
Wheat varieties on the docket for release later this year: two
full-waxy wheats with potential for licensing as biofuel and
blending wheats, a partial-waxy soft white spring wheat targeted
to the Asian noodle market, three more imazamox-resistant
varieties, and a soft white winter wheat with superior yield
potential and end-use quality that veteran UI wheat breeder Bob
Zemetra expects will excel in both domestic and foreign markets. |
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