It’s wheat seeding time. Here’s a look at what is out there as certified seed available to growers this fall.

From Limagrain Cereal Seeds
Limagrain is offering six new varieties to growers this fall — five hard red variety and one hard white variety. This is also the first year that the new CoAXium growing system, which offers a new herbicide-tolerant variety, is available.

• LCS Avenger — Adapted for the high plains of southwestern Nebraska, eastern Colorado, western Kansas and panhandle regions of Oklahoma and Texas, the hard red winter wheat, Avenger, has exceptional straw strength, excellent tolerance to stripe, stem and leaf rust, medium maturity, and medium plant height. It also has excellent winter hardiness.

• LCS Fusion AX — This hard red winter wheat is the first wheat variety available for the Central Plains containing the non-GMO AXigen trait that allows control of grassy weeds with Aggressor-brand herbicides. It has two-gene resistance to Aggressor, which enables control of bromus species, feral rye and cereal rye, jointed goatgrass, wild oats, and volunteer cereals. The CoAXium wheat production system is a joint project of Limagrain, Albaugh and the Colorado Wheat Research Foundation.

• LCS Yeti — This early maturity, hard white winter wheat variety is adapted to southwest Nebraska, eastern Colorado, western Kansas and northwest Oklahoma. It has excellent yield, exceptional tolerance to stripe and stem rust, and good tolerance to pre-harvest sprouting. It also has exceptionally good milling and baking qualities.

• LCS Link — This hard red winter wheat variety was developed in collaboration with the University of Nebraska. It has exceptional tolerance to stem rust, excellent straw strength and good winter hardiness. It is well-adapted to northern Kansas, southern and western Nebraska and northeast Colorado. It is the highest-yielding LCS variety in more than two years of UNL trails.

• LCS Chrome — This high-yielding hard red winter wheat is widely adapted to flourish in all of Kansas and Oklahoma as well as most of Nebraska, eastern Colorado and northwestern Texas. It is a medium-height wheat with very good tolerance to drought and excellent leaf and stripe rust resistance. It has also been a consistently high-protein wheat with an average of more than 12% protein.

• LCS Mint — This hard red winter wheat variety has excellent dryland performance, good tolerance to acid soils and dependable protein content. It is on the Grain Craft recommended list for milling and baking quality. It carries good tolerance to wheat streak mosaic virus and is photoperiod sensitive, which means its maturity can vary from year to year. It is widely adapted to all of Kansas and Oklahoma, most of Nebraska, the western half of South Dakota, southwest North Dakota, eastern Montana, Wyoming and Colorado, as well as the Texas panhandle.

From the Kansas Wheat Alliance
The Kansas Wheat Alliance is the marketing and commercialization entity for varieties produced in the Kansas State University wheat breeding programs at Manhattan and the Fort Hays Experiment Station. It has announced one new variety.

• KS Venada — This medium-late, medium-tall hard white winter wheat variety has just been released. It has excellent baking qualities and a good disease package for stripe rust, leaf rust, scab, soilborne mosaic virus and some acid soil tolerance. Venada has better straw strength and preharvest sprouting compared to Joe. It is adapted to central and western Kansas and north-central Oklahoma, and it is a good fit to producers looking for a high-quality white wheat variety.

From Syngenta AgriPro
Syngenta is offering five new AgriPro hard red winter wheat varieties for this fall’s planting season. AgriPro regional account lead Greg Gungoll says he would encourage producers to reach out to their AgriPro associates as soon as possible to confirm supplies and get their order in to make sure they get the varieties they want.

New for planting this fall are:

• SY Rugged —This variety maximizes the potential for high yields across variable environments in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. It has good drought tolerance and good tolerance to both leaf and stripe rust. It also has very good test weights.

• SY 517 CL2 — This hard red winter wheat features good winter hardiness and straw strength for the South Dakota, Montana and Nebraska markets. It is a Clearfield variety with two-gene herbicide tolerance. It has good straw strength, excellent test weights and moderate resistance to fusarium head blight.

• SY Benefit — This variety is a consistent yielder with good mill and bake quality in the eastern Kansas and Oklahoma medium-maturity markets. It has good resistance to fusarium head blight and was the best yielder in the east.  It has too milling and baking qualities.

• SY Achieve CL2 — This Clearfield variety has two-gene herbicide tolerance, which results in high yield potential in Kansas and Oklahoma. It is an early maturing variety known for good quality and test weights. It also has a strong rust resistance package.

• Bob Dole — This hard red winter wheat variety features a good disease package with leaf and stripe rust tolerance, along with fusarium head blight tolerance in Kansas and Oklahoma. It was developed in partnership with Kansas Wheat and named for Kansas’ beloved long-time senator, Bob Dole. It has excellent end-use qualities.

From Monsanto WestBred
WestBred, the wheat breeding division of Monsanto, has announced two new hard red winter wheat varieties for planting in 2018:

• WB4418 — This hard red winter wheat has strong yield potential along with excellent straw strength and very good resistance to Hessian fly and wheat streak mosaic virus. It has average protein content and milling and baking qualities. It is an excellent choice for higher populations and responds well to high levels of inputs, which makes it a good choice for irrigation. It is not tolerant of low soil pH.

• WB4269 — This is a hard red winter wheat with very good yield potential and test weight plus excellent stripe rust resistance. It has very good straw strength and lodging resistance, and it holds dormancy well. It is adapted to all of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and most of New Mexico, and it can be planted at medium-to-high populations for the best yield and grazing potential.

List compiled by P.J. Griekspoor