Sometimes a variety can be just too popular for its own good – and wheat breeders are anxious to lighten the dependence on Yitpi wheat through the low rainfall Mallee areas of Victoria, South Australia and NSW.
There is the concern that the virtual monoculture of Yitpi could see farmers susceptible if there was to be a stem rust epidemic.
“We haven’t seen a stem rust epidemic for a number of years, but the impact on yield can be a lot higher than a stripe rust infestation,” said Australian Grain Technologies (AGT) chief executive Steve Jefferies.
Mr Jefferies, speaking at the Birchip Cropping Group main field day last week, said the success of Yitpi, which consistently outyields other varieties and has maintained good resistance against most major in-crop diseases, had meant farmers had an over reliance on it.
“It’s been a brilliant variety and will continue to be widely grown, but the breeding industry knows we have to look at successors.”
Mr Jefferies was confident his company’s Correll wheat would be welcomed through Mallee regions.
A hard wheat, trial results have shown Correll’s yield to be slightly higher than Yitpi, outstripping the Mallee benchmark by one to three percent across a range of low rainfall zone trial sites in Victoria.
Mr Jefferies said the variety:
• Had better stem rust resistance
• Was resistant to cereal cyst nematode (CCN) and, importantly,
• Was tough enough to ride out a tight Mallee finish.
The only downfall was a slight concern with test weights – with some trials showing it weighed in lighter than did other varieties.
Breeding is now geared towards early to mid-maturing varieties to aid Mallee farmers faced with seasons cutting out of them and crops failing to finish.
“There’s no doubt the early varieties do better in the dry finishes,” Mr Jefferies said.
He said AGT was confident the variety would yield well enough to make them money through end point royalties.
“We have decided to make the variety a limited over the fence line, so farmers can trade with other farmers.
“Farmers who buy the certified seed will then be able to on-sell their own seed to other growers at the end of the year, or trade it for another variety.
“We’re aiming at EPRs, that way the variety has to stand up – and if it goes well, both the farmers and us make some money, rather than farmers having all the risk.”
He urged farmers to consider growing multiple wheat cultivars for risk management.
“With issues such as frost and dry finishes, it pays to have a spread of maturity dates, and having a range of varieties allows farmers to spread the ripening period and minimise the risk of frost wiping out all the crop in one go.”
There will be other wheat varieties with potential through low rainfall zones.
Axe is a very early maturing variety, which finishes some 10 days before Yitpi.
DPI agronomist Neil Vallance said that it could be successfully used in a year with a late break.
“It gives you a planting option right through to mid-June, which could be used to allow farmers to get a weed kill before planting in a year with a late break, where other varieties will have to go in straight after the break.”
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