AgroPages-Syngenta field days focuses on wheat breeding program-Agricultural news

Growers attending the Syngenta VIP wheat tour were brought up to date on the research efforts now underway for the company’s AgriPro line of wheat seed. These efforts are designed to help farmers grow more profitable wheat.

"Globally, Syngenta invests about $125 million each year in cereals," said Greg McCormack, key account manager for the Plains region. "We are a company committed to cereals. We have the research and development that is going to help us win in the Northern Plains."

Syngenta spring wheat breeder, Joe Smith, outlined the varieties currently being offered and gave a preview of those that will likely be released within the next season or two.

"Growers in this region would like to have something that is short, not a lot of straw to work with, and, of course, good yield," Smith said. "There is a big tradeoff between yield and protein. Protein is very important here in the North. We have to balance out yield and protein and use that in our decision making."

Smith also noted it is important to have a wide range of maturity, since using different maturity wheat varieties in the rotation spreads the risk for disease and harvest.

"Generally, later maturing varieties have a little more yield, since they have a little more of the season to work with," Smith said. "However, those later maturing varieties will usually perform better in the northern areas and their performance will drop off as you move south, and maybe to the west as well."

Smith introduced the tour group to a variety that hasn’t been named yet, but is in foundation seed production. Over the past two years this experimental variety has out yielded Faller by two bushels per acre. But the tradeoff is a lower protein level.

"This variety has a good disease package and is an intermediate semi-dwarf wheat with very good straw strength," he said.

Cereals product evaluation scientist, Blake Vander Vorst, explained the hybrid spring wheat program that is now a part of Syngenta’s research efforts. He started out by listing some of the benefits growers will likely see once hybrid wheat varieties are released.

Usually there is a yield bump in a plot setting of 10 to 15 percent.

- Increase in plant vigor.

- Better developed root system.

- Better grain quality.

- Better straw strength.

This year’s hybrid plot at Argusville contains five hybrids and each of their parents in the plot. And since one of the parents was used twice, there are nine baselines there so a comparison can be made on what the hybrids can do compared to their parents.

Smith said the goal of the company is to have the commercial release of the hybrid wheat by the end of the decade, but thus far things have been progressing well so that time might be bumped up a little. In regards to how much more hybrid wheat seed would cost, Smith said they aren’t ready to even make a guess yet in that regard. The varieties first need to be developed.

Vander Vorst is also involved in some integrated cropping systems trial work that will focus on getting as many bushels as possible out of both the conventional and hybrid seeds by doing nitrogen trials, adjusting plant population rates, and conducting disease and fungicide trials.

"We are going to see if we can maximize those benefits, especially from the hybrids, but also from the conventional varieties," Vander Vorst said.