USA
August 6, 2019
While travelling around the country this summer, many of us have noticed that the wheat stem sawfly numbers seem to be higher than normal this year. Especially over in the Conrad area. At our test plot site, I think they almost outnumbered the mosquitos, and that is saying something! Consequently, we have been seeing a lot more interest in some solid stem winter wheat varieties for this fall. The good news is that there are some newer genetics available that have the solid stem trait in their arsenal.
The first newer variety is WB4483. WB4483 has good winterhardiness and been right at the top of the yield trials in the solid stem category for the past three seasons. As far as solidness goes it is probably slightly less solid than Warhorse, but more solid than Judy or Genou. One other nice feature of this variety is that it has some tolerance to soil-born wheat streak mosaic virus. With all of the hail that has crashed through our area this summer it may be a big benefit to have this mosaic tolerance for fall planting.
Our other “heavy hitter” in the sawfly category has been Warhorse. Warhorse has been out for a few years so many of you with sawfly issues have tried it already. It has a very good solidness to it, somewhat similar to Rampart. It also has the gene for aluminum tolerance, so it might be an option to try on a low pH soil.
Another new variety that might be a nice fit in the moderate to lower sawfly regions is Loma. I think the easiest way to describe Loma is to say it is a semi-solid Yellowstone. Yellowstone has been a very nice yielding wheat in Montana, but it has basically been off-limit to sawfly areas. Loma should help bring the yield traits and winterhardiness of Yellowstone to producers who aren’t comfortable growing a hollow stem variety. I think that with these three varieties we have a “Solid” line-up to combat the sawfly.
In conclusion, we have received this question many times over the years. Producers observe that some years their solid stem wheat is very solid and the next year it isn’t nearly as solid and may even fall down. What causes this to happen? Dr. Dale Clark, Director of Research for Northern Seed, says that cool, rainy weather is believed to reduce the amount of pith that creates a solid stem in wheat. With less pith, there is greater sawfly survival and more stem cutting.
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