Written by Hillary Emick and John Bruce
Preliminary Results
It is already time to get ready for planting winter wheat. Each year, UVM Extension evaluates winter wheat varieties to determine those that will perform best here in Vermont. This year, the project evaluated 44 varieties of winter wheat, including six varieties of soft white winter wheat, two varieties of hard white winter wheat, nine varieties of soft red winter wheat, and twenty-seven varieties of hard red winter wheat. This year brought some cold and wet weather during the spring; however, hot and dry weather helped to bring a high-quality crop to harvest. Preliminary yield and quality results are shown in Table 1.
Height
The tallest variety was Sirvinta at 138 cm. Height can be advantageous to wheat in weed competition, but sometimes very tall varieties are prone to lodging. This year Sirvinta had no lodging, similar to eighteen other varieties with no lodging. The variety with the most lodging was Genessee Giant, with 76.7% lodging.
Test Weight
Test weight is the measure of grain density, which is determined by weighing a known volume of grain. Industry standard for wheat is 56-60 lbs bu-1. Over 60% of the varieties met the industry standard for test weight. The variety with the highest test weight was Viking 211 at 60.5 lbs bu-1.
Yield
More than half of the varieties had yields over two tons per acre (adjusted to 13.5% moisture content). The highest yielding variety was Blue River 844 with a yield of 6236 lbs ac-1. The varieties IL16-8048 and IL17-23874 also yielded over 3 tons per acre (6100 and 6108 lbs ac-1 respectively).
Crude Protein
The ideal range for bread wheat is 12-15% crude protein, though some artisan bread bakers have found success working with wheat in the 10-12% range, depending on the end-product. There were 13 varieties were within the ideal range for protein: Erisman, IL16-8048, Genessee Giant, ARS18W0682, VA16HRW-22, Arapahoe, Gold Coin, Brome, AC Morley, Turkey Red, Rouge d’Ecosse, Champlain and Redeemer. Redeemer had the highest protein concentration at 13.6%. Only five varieties were below the minimum of 10% protein (Blue River 844, NY12512-1542, IL17-23874, Towpath, and NY12325).
Please visit our website to view past year trial results.