Australia
October 31, 2014
Two new wheat varieties offering growers a spread of planting options, improved yield potential and resistance to selected diseases are now on the market.
Thanks to the work of wheat breeders from Australian Grain Technologies (AGT) and Queensland Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (QDAFF), AGT now has northern growers covered from late April through to June planting.
The new varieties, Mitch and Sunmate join AGT’s stable to complement the recently released main season APH variety Suntop.
Mitch is a late April/early May planting window wheat variety arising from the birthplace of EGA Gregory. Mitch delivers improved grain yield, improved crown rot resistance, improved yellow leaf spot resistance, and improved blackpoint tolerance compared to its Queensland origin teammate, EGA Gregory.
Named after surveyor and explorer Sir Thomas Mitchell, Mitch originates from Queensland’s Leslie Research Centre. Its final development through to a commercial variety was completed by Australian Grain Technologies (AGT) at Narrabri in northern New South Wales.
Mitch is similar in flowering time to EGA Gregory and Sunvale, generally suiting planting in the late April to early May window depending on the specific region and its frost risk.
Mitch was selected for high yield and excellent agronomic performance. The maximum quality grade for which Mitch is eligible is Australian Hard (AH).
Kerrie Gleeson, AGT’s northern NSW and Queensland territory manager says while Mitch is not an APH variety, its unique combination of high yield, improved crown rot and leaf disease resistance makes it a potentially more profitable late April/early May planting alternative to EGA Gregory and LPB Lancer for many northern growers.
“Mitch also has good resistance to stem, leaf and stripe rust, and good resistance to the yellow leaf spot,” he said.
“Mitch has a moderately susceptible (MS) rating against crown rot. An MS rating to crown rot is one of the highest available within the common varieties suited for this planting window.”
Mitch is rated MI (moderately intolerant) to root lesion nematode (P.thornei).
Mr. Gleeson says Mitch has strong straw, a valuable feature for the most profitable high yielding years and when grown on irrigation as well as a high rating of MR for black point.
Mitch was recently launched at a field day in central Queensland and commercial quantities of seed will be available for the 2015 season through AGT Affiliates and local retailers (see AGT web site http://www.ausgraintech.com for affiliate contact details).
At the other end of the planting window is Sunmate. Described by AGT as a good disease package for late planting, Sunmate is ideally suited to the mid to late-June planting window, and has comparable maturity to Spitfire and Livingston.
Other shorter season APH variety options for Queensland and northern NSW include Spitfire, Crusader, Dart, Kennedy, and Hartog.
Long term financial analysis of late planted NVTs in Queensland and northern NSW shows that on average Sunmate produced the greatest financial returns amongst all these shorter season varieties, Mr Gleeson said.
“It has consistently been the highest yielding of these varieties and after taking into account protein, screenings and test weight in each trial and converting this into a selling price, Sunmate comes up tops for overall financial return,” he said.
Sunmate very much compliments its mid-season stable mate Suntop which is ideal for mid-May to early June planting in most areas of Queensland and northern NSW. Sunmate is well suited to the late May through to end of June planting window depending on specific region and frost risk.
Sunmate is a close relative to Suntop but flowers approximately four days earlier, similar to Livingston and slightly later than Spitfire. In combination the Suntop, Sunmate stable mates provide growers with excellent mid to late season planting window coverage.
Like Suntop, Sunmate also features Prime Hard quality (APH), good adult plant resistance to the three rust, tolerance to root lesion nematode, and good agronomic type including strong straw.
Both Sunmate, Suntop and Mitch all have an MR (moderately resistant) rating for black point, sometimes a major quality issue in years with wet and mild springs.
Root lesion nematode (Pratylenchus thornei) is now regarded as a major issue in many wheat northern growing areas. Sunmate is rated tolerant to moderately tolerant (T-MT), a higher rating than most other APH variety options in the late May/June planting window.
It also has a moderately resistant to moderately susceptible (MR/MS) rating for resistance to P. thornei. Sunmate’s resistance rating is better than many varieties. Resistance as well as tolerance are now becoming an important consideration for planning rotations and choosing varieties.
While having a relatively low resistance rating against Crown rot (moderately susceptible-susceptible) it nevertheless has better resistance than many other common varieties.
Commercial quantities of seed available for the 2015 season through AGT Affiliates and local retailers (see AGT web site http://www.ausgraintech.com for affiliate contact details).
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