WHEAT QUALITY COUNCIL 2011 ANNUAL MEETING SUMMARY 

By Ben Handcock, Executive Vice President 

The Wheat Quality Council (WQC) held its annual meeting, forum and technical review sessions February 15-17, 2011 at the KCI Embassy Suites Hotel in Kansas City, MO with over 140 industry participants in attendance. 

The WQC is the only industry-wide organization that brings together all wheat interests from breeders and producers to millers, processors and bakers.  These participants are provided information on the milling and baking qualities of wheat varieties that will be released, grown and processed in the next few years. 

The wheat breeders have an opportunity to network with the industry to determine what quality characteristics the millers and bakers would like to see in new wheat varieties. 

BOARD OF TRUSTEES 

The meeting began with the WQC Board of Trustees meeting on Tuesday, February 16.  Following discussions on financial, membership and budget reports, the annual election was held.  The following people will serve on the WQC governing board for 2010:  Brad Seabourn,USDA/ARS/CGHAR-Chair; Glen Weaver, ConAgra-Vice Chair; Hayden Wands, Sara Lee-Past Chair; Brian Walker, Horizon Milling-Executive Committee;  Jackie Rudd, TX Wheat Producers-Executive Committee;  Neal Fisher, ND Wheat Commission-Executive Committee; plus Tim Aschbrenner, Cereal Food Processors; Steve Schorn, DSM Food Specialties; C.J. Lin, Mennel Milling; Len Heflich, BIMBO; Kara Hobart, General Mills; Greg Konsor, Gavilon; Monte White, Research Products; Cathy Butti, AgriPro-Syngenta; Justin Gilpin, KS Wheat Commission; Sid Perry, WestBred-Monsanto, Ed Souza, ARS Soft Wheat Lab; Sherri Lehman, North American Millers Association; and Ron Lindgren, ADM.

SPEAKERS/FORUM 

Drew Lerner, World Weather Inc - International Wheat Weather Outlook for 2011. 

Ankush Bhandari, Gavilon - Global and US Grain Outlook & Gavilon’s Grain Footprint.

Forrest Chumley, Heartland Plant Innovations - Everything Old is New Again: Using Wheat Doubled Haploid Lines to Accelerate Wheat Improvement.

Jim Peterson, Limagrain Cereal Seeds, - Limagrain Cereal Seeds: Introduction and Update.

William Wilson, NDSU-Challenges and Opportunities in Development of GM Wheat.

The keynote dinner speaker was Jeffrey Smyth, Database Analysts Ltd. Mr. Smyth talked about the Japanese View of GM Wheat and the difficulties we face in introducing these wheats into the Japanese Market. His comments generated a lot of discussion among the participants at the meeting.

Reporters from Milling and Baking News and the High Plains Journal covered the presentations. I would expect to see some coverage in an upcoming issue, so watch for that. We thank them for their willingness to cover our conference each year.

SNAPSHOT OF LINES ENTERED FOR REVIEW THIS YEAR   

Forty-five breeder-submitted lines and checks were entered for evaluation from the 2010 growing season.  These lines were hard spring, soft winter and hard winter wheats.

In the Hard Springs:

All lines were compared to the excellent “Glenn” check.

WestBred/Monsanto:  Entered three lines in the trials this year. They had two hard reds and one hard white. None have been released yet. All three are very strong, but the two reds are lower protein which may keep some farmers from trying them.

World Wide Wheat:  Entered two lines that were pretty well liked by the cooperators. Intent to release is unknown.

University of Minnesota:  Entered one line with high scab resistance and strong straw strength. It will be named “Rollag.”

South Dakota State University:  Entered one line that looked pretty good, but likely will not be released due to bacterial leaf disease infections.

North Dakota State University:  Entered five lines. Two are hard red Clearfield lines and one has been released (ND901CL Plus); is targeted for the western areas. ND905CL Plus is a high protein line and is in pre-release. ND811 is a red in pre-release, has a good disease package and will be targeted for western ND to raise quality. NDSW612 is a hard white with good protein and may be released in 2012. ND808 is a hard red and has been recommended for release as a replacement for “Faller” in eastern ND.

In the Eastern Soft Winters: 

Cornell University:  Entered one soft white wheat line named “Saranac” that is similar in quality to “Caledonia” but much more scab resistant. A soft red line with a good disease package and good yields has not been named yet. 

AgriPro-Syngenta:  Had three soft reds in the trials this year. “Arcadia” is best adapted to the deep South and East coast areas. SY 9978 has good resistance to powdery mildew, Hessian fly and Stripe rust. “Oakes” has also shown moderate resistance to Stripe rust and is a couple days earlier in heading than “Beretta. 

Michigan State University:  MSU entered two soft white lines this year. “Jupiter” has exceptional grain yield, short stature and lacks the full length awns of most MSU varieties. ES024 has good grain yield, and has good resistance to powdery mildew and fusarium head blight. It also shows improved performance against pre-harvest sprouting. 

The University of Georgia:  Entered USG 3120, a soft red with excellent resistance to Hessian fly and Stripe rust. 

In the Hard Winters: 

Colorado State University:  Had three entries.  All were rated equal to or above the good check-“Hatcher.” All are hard reds, with CO050303-2 and CO06424 being conventional types and CO06052 being a two-gene Clearfield type. This set of line was liked by all the cooperators and earned breeder Scott Haley the Millers award this year. 

Oklahoma State University:  Has released “Ruby Lee,” a red wheat for grain production that is similar in quality to the good check-“Billings.” They have also released “Garrison,” which is similar to “Endurance,” but with a much improved disease package. OK07231 may be released in 2011 as a dual purpose variety. 

Montana State University:  Entered one hard red line. “Bear Paw” has been released as a replacement for “Rampart.” It is a solid stemmed sawfly resistant variety, which is important in Montana. It does not appear to be winter hardy enough for eastern Montana or western North Dakota. 

WestBred/Monsanto: Entered one hard red, HV9W06-262R, that will not be released. There has been no decision on its hard white line, HV9W06-218W, but if released it will have to stay west due to its lack of resistance to scab and head sprouting. 

Texas A&M-Amarillo: Entered two hard red lines from the TAM program. They will not release TX05A001822. TX06A001263 will be released in 2011 and has a good yield plus resistance to leaf, stripe and stem rust. Both were compared to the good check-“TAM 111.”

University of Nebraska: Entered two red lines. One has a good disease package and performs well in western Nebraska. The other also has a good disease package and performs well southern and west central Nebraska. Both were compared to the good check-“Millennium”.

South Dakota State University:  Entered two hard reds this year. SD05118-1 is a white chaff line carries a gene for resistance to pre-harvest sprouting and has excellent resistance to scab plus some resistance to Hessian fly. SD06158 is a shorter semi-dwarf type with high test weight. It will possibly be released in 2011. Both were compared to the good check-“Lyman.”

Cooperators

A total of 37 cooperators from across the United States evaluated our lines from 2010.  This is a huge investment of money, time and effort on their part. They are truly dedicated to our program and deserve our sincere thanks and gratitude for their participation.

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