2009 Test Results

The average state-wide yield of soft red winter wheats tested in the 2009 was 55.3 bu/acre (Table 5), down 5.1 bu/acre from the average grain yield in the 2008 tests (60.4 bu/acre). In 2009, the state-wide yield was 17.3 bushels lower than the record yield (72.6 bu/acre) achieved in the 2003 Missouri Winter Wheat Performance Tests. Average yields across the seven test locations ranged from a low of 34.3 bu/acre at Trenton (Table 8) to a high of 73.1 bu/acre at Charleston (Table 9). Average regional yields ranged from 50.1 bu/acre in the north to 57.5 bu/acre in the southeast, and 60.6 bu/acre in the southwest (Table 13). In the northern region, Fusarium head blight (scab) was significant at all locations. At Trenton and Novelty, planting was delayed due to late soybean harvest and/or an extremely wet seed bed. Temperatures were cold and conditions were wet which reduced stand establishment and affected fall tillering and winter survival in most varieties. Fusarium head blight further reduced yields and test weights. Yields were lowest at these locations. Across the state (Table 5), ‘EXCEL 180’ was the highest yielding soft red winter wheat variety tested, averaging 64.3 bu/acre while ‘EXCEL 400-1’ (64.2 bu/acre) and ‘Pioneer ® variety 25R56’ (57.3 bu/acre) won the two- and three-year averages, respectively. In 2009, 5 varieties including ‘MFA 2525’, ‘EXCEL 170’, ‘EXCEL 357’, ‘EXCEL 173’, and ‘EXCEL 400-1’ were not significantly different from the top yielding variety. Top yielding public varieties were ‘Bess’ (59.4 bu/acre) and ‘Milton’ (58.2 bu/acre). Over two- and three-years of testing, Milton, the newly released public variety out of the University of Missouri’s wheat breeding program was in the top yield group.

State-wide, the average test weight of entries evaluated was 54.7 lb/bu (Table 5), up 1.0 lb/bu from the state-wide average (53.7 lb/bu) recorded in the 2008 Missouri Winter Wheat Performance Tests. Test weights in the northern region at Trenton and Novelty were significantly affected by Fusarium head blight in susceptible varieties and by excessive rainfall throughout the harvest period. Average test weights ranged from a low of 48.2 lb/bu at Trenton (Table 8) to a high of 57.1 lb/bu at Columbia (Table 6). State-wide, ‘Roane’ had the heaviest test weight (57.4 lb/bu) of the varieties tested (Table 5). Test weights of ‘EXCEL 180’ (57.2 lb/bu), ‘Lewis 835’ (57.1 lb/bu), and ‘Progeny 130’ (56.9 lb/bu) were not significantly different from that of Roane.