MSU College of Agriculture has New Wheat Variety Available for Licensing

Montana State University researchers have produced a new line of hard white winter wheat that shows potential to produce as well as one of the most popular red winter wheat varieties currently grown in Montana.

The new hard white winter wheat variety, a line currently identified as MTW08168, is similar to the widely popular Montana variety of Yellowstone red winter wheat in yield, agronomic characteristics and resistance to prevalent races of stripe rust.

The new variety stands out from Yellowstone as having a hard white kernel versus the hard red kernel of Yellowstone. MTW08168 also has a higher grain volume weight, with about one half pound per bushel grain volume weight. It heads about two and a half days later than Yellowstone and averages close to 2 inches taller than Yellowstone.

MSU is the major supplier of new wheat varieties for Montana growers with approximately 2.5 million acres of MSU varieties grown in the state from 2010 to 2012, according to the Montana Agricultural Statistics Service.

A report on the origin, breeding history and characteristics of MTW08168 compared to other winter wheat lines is available through MSU Technology Transfer Office. The MSU Agricultural Experiment Station anticipates 200 bushels of foundation seed from current seed production. Trial lines are available for observation.

Naming of the new variety may be subject to the terms of its licensing.

Currently, MSU has 213 licenses from technologies developed by faculty and researchers. Of those, 85 licenses are with Montana companies.

This story and related documents are available online at: http://www.montana.edu/news/11953/msu-college-of-agriculture-has-new-wheat-variety-available-for-licensing.