Dakota Farmer

S.D. Wheat Commission Gives $609,200 for Research

Checkoff grants fund variety development, production management and pest control projects at SDSU.

January 29, 2008

3 Min Read
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The South Dakota Wheat Commission recently announced that it provided grants for more than $609,200 in research at South Dakota State University.

The funding comes from the wheat checkoff program, generated from sales of South Dakota wheat, says Randy L. Englund, executive director of the South Dakota Wheat Commission.

The money will fund a number of ongoing breeding projects including the following:

  • $45,000 for a spring wheat breeding program led by Associate Professor Karl Glover. Glover also will lead two other projects, $17,000 to accelerated breeding for resistance to Fusarium Head Blight, commonly called scab, and $35,000 for a hard white spring wheat research program to promote the rapid release of this variety.

  • $45,000 for a winter wheat breeding research program.

  • $35,000 for a hard white winter wheat program, with a focus on potential release of dual-purpose varieties.

  • $10,000 for Fusarium head blight-resistant development in winter wheat

  • $21,300 for acquisition of baking equipment for the wheat quality lab.

  • $21,200 for acquisition of a Quadrumat Senior Mill led by Padu Krishnan, Glover, and Brent Turnipseed. $50,000 to develop a wheat quality lab and to hire a research associate to conduct quality tests on four combined projects.

  • $45,000 for a seed dormancy genes study led by Xingyou Gu and Glover. The study's goal is to improve common wheat for resistance to pre-harvest sprouting.

  • $10,000 for a DNA markers study led by professor of biology and microbiology Yang Yen. The study will select DNA markers for scab resistance with "Abura" in spring wheat.

  • $18,000 for a molecular breeding study led by Jose Gonzalez, Glover, Jeff Stein, and Krishnan. The project will look at certain gliadins alleles in the end use of South Dakota wheat varieties and study genetic basis of FHB resistance.

In wheat production research, the Commission authorized the following grants:

  • $7,300 for a cropping systems project led by Research Associate John Rickertsen and Extension West River Agronomist Thandiwe Nleya. The study will determine crop productivity in varied rotations and consider economic returns.

  • $20,000 for a nitrogen management study led by Dakota Lakes Research Farm Manager Dwayne Beck. The focus of this project is winter wheat and broadcast techniques.

  • $4,300 for a drought tolerance study led by Nleya and Rickertsen. The project will screen diverse winter wheat germplasm with the intent of making drought-tolerant traits more common in the winter wheat breeding program.

  • $7,500 for a study considering nitrogen application for no-till led by principal investigator Howard Woodard. The objective is to determine the best time to apply nitrogen for efficient utilization in no-till winter and spring wheat.

  • $8,600 for broadleaf crop effect on nitrogen. Led by Nleya and Rickertsen, the project will compare soil nutrient status for winter wheat following field peas, lentil, safflower and spring wheat.

  • $75,000 for a climatic interactions study led by Professor David Clay. This effort will develop a central database where wheat quality data can be analyzed by various researchers.

  • $75,000 for research on South Dakota selenium wheat led by Professors Woodard and Krishnan, and Associate Professor Fathi Halaweish. The goal is to determine factors that influence selenium content and form.

Four projects researching pest management were also funded, they include:

  • $30,000 for a wheat diseases study led by Jeff Stein and Lawrence Osborne. The objective of this project is development of a wheat disease prediction system.

  • $9,000 for a disease management strategies project led by Extension Plant Pathology Research Associate Kay Ruden. The project plans to monitor wheat disease development and define new effective control methods.

  • $20,000 for a viral disease resistance study led by Plant Virologist Marie Langham.

Source: SDSU AgBio Communications

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