Dr. Fernando Guillen-Portal, Small Grains Extension Specialist, Soil & Crop Sciences Dept. College Station, (406) 579-5638, f.guillenportal@agnet.tamu.edu

Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomy, TAMU Soil & Crop Sciences, Lubbock,

(806) 723-8432, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu

Russ Garetson, MS, Small Grains Extension Program Specialist, TAMU Soil & Crop Sciences, College Station, (214) 460-5510, russ.garetson@ag.tamu.edu

Continuing an established tradition, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension has identified the annual winter wheat variety “Pick’s list” for the 2021-2022 growing season for each of the wheat variety testing regions in Texas, the High Plains, Rolling Plains, Blacklands & Northeast Texas, and South Texas. This is the result of a collaborative work among professionals working at different Texas A&M Research and Extension units in Amarillo, College Station, Commerce, Lubbock, San Angelo, and Vernon.

Major criteria used for the identification of picks include grain yield, disease resistance (leaf rust, stripe rust, wheat streak mosaic virus), insect tolerance (greenbugs, Russian wheat aphid, wheat curl mite Hessian fly), end-use quality, and consistency of performance. Other attributes such as standability, winter hardiness, tillering ability, and straw strength are also used for this purpose. Variable growing conditions in Texas such as lack of soil moisture at planting and/or during the growing season, freezing temperatures, especially during the reproductive stage, excessive moisture during the grain filling period, and disease and insect pressure can significantly affect the performance in any growing season. Consistent with all this, the picks varieties must show good stability of performance within its target region, which is measured by including a minimum of three years of data from Texas A&M AgriLife regional variety trials across numerous locations.

High Plains Wheat Grain Picks for 2021-2022

Dr. Jourdan Bell, Extension Agronomist, Amarillo, (806) 677-5600, jourdan.bell@ag.tamu.edu;

Dr. Calvin Trostle, Extension Agronomist, Lubbock, (806) 746-6101, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu

Pick varieties for the High Plains for fully and limited irrigation and dryland water regimes are listed in Table 1 and major characteristics of these varieties are shown in Table 5.

Table 1. Texas A&M AgriLife wheat grain variety Picks for the 2021-2022 Texas High Plains wheat season. Picks are based on yield performance and consistency from 20 irrigated and dryland trials in the Texas High Plains (primarily Panhandle) harvested from 2019-2021.

ǂ Full irrigation in the Texas High Plains reflects a production system oriented to ample nitrogen fertilizer applications and likely fungicide application(s) for leaf rust and stripe rust even when infection is minimal or even preventative applications before infestation.

TAM 113 remains on the list because of solid grain performance, end use quality, forage potential, and ability to emerge and tiller under stressful conditions. It has resistance to stripe, leaf, and stem rusts. TAM 114 remains on the list because of solid grain performance, excellent milling and baking quality, and forage potential under irrigated and dryland conditions. It tolerates heavy grazing and is resistant to stripe, leaf, and stem rust. TAM 114 has a broad adaptability, being a top yielder in other wheat growing regions of Texas as well.

TAM 115 is a successor of TAM 112. It is a later maturing variety that is less susceptible to injury from late spring freezes. TAM 115 maintains the disease and insect package of 112 but with improved grain yields. TAM 115 was already a Pick for fully irrigated wheat. It is a large-seeded variety whose Pick status is now expanded to the 2020-2021 Limited Irrigated and Dryland Picks List based on additional 3-year performance history. Recent observations indicate that it maintains performance under good dryland conditions and irrigated. but it does not have the tillering potential of TAM 113 under tough, water stressed dryland conditions. TAM 115 is a dual- purpose variety with very good milling and baking quality that is resistant to leaf rust, stripe rust, stem rust, green bug, and wheat curl mite with good drought tolerance. Wheat curl mite resistance conveys resistance to wheat streak mosaic virus.

TAM 205 continues to demonstrate stable yields in the uniform variety trials. It is a dual-purpose variety with a high top-end yield potential, good test weights, very good end-use quality, and good fall forage production. It is resistant to leaf, stripe, and stem rusts. It is also resistant to wheat streak mosaic virus and soil-borne wheat mosaic virus. It performed very well in the across all water regimes. Westbred WB4792 was added to the Picks List. It is a 2018 release with excellent agronomic performance under both irrigated and dryland conditions, it has good test weight. It has very good tillering potential. Winterhawk remains a long-time Pick for limited irrigation and dryland. It has proven to be highly adaptable to the growing conditions in the western area of due to its excellent drought tolerance and its suitability for dual purpose production under heavy grazing. The drawback for Winterhawk is it offers little disease resistance.

Rolling Plains Wheat Grain & Dual-Purpose Picks for 2021-2022

Dr. Emi Kimura, Extension Agronomist, Vernon, (940) 552-9941, emi.kimura@ag.tamu.edu,

Dr. Reagan Nolan, Extension Agronomist, San Angelo, (325) 657-7330, reagan.nolan@ag.tamu.edu

Started in 2019, field testing of winter wheat in the Rolling Plains is performed within two sub-regions, the Northern Rolling Plains, which covers the Wichita Falls/Chillicothe area, and the Southern Rolling Plains, covering the Abilene/Concho Valley. Dr. Kimura leads the activities in the Northern Rolling Plains and Dr. Nolan in the Southern Rolling Plains. Pick varieties for grain only and dual-purpose (forage + grain) categories in the Northern Rolling Plains are shown in Table 2. Table 5 shows major characteristics of these varieties.

Table 2. Texas A&M AgriLife wheat grain variety Picks for the 2021-2022 Texas Northern Rolling Plains wheat season. Picks are based on yield performance and consistency from 8 and 6 dryland trials in the Northern Rolling Plains harvested from 2019-2021 for the grain only and dual-purpose categories, respectively.

Fig. 1. Wheat variety trial harvest in Chillicothe., Texas, 2021.

Bob Dole has been a top yielder in the Rolling Plains. It has good tolerance to acid soils and drought conditions. In addition, it has very good disease resistance package, very good test weights and very good baking and milling quality. Green Hammer is a variety with excellent response to dual-production systems due to its high tillering ability, tolerance to drought and acid soils as well. It also has a very good disease resistance package. In Rolling Plains growing conditions it has average test weights. WB4595, released in 2019, is a variety with very good tillering ability and increased biomass growth in the fall, attributes that make them a top yielder under dual-purpose systems with excellent fall grazing potential. It also has high test weights.

Blacklands/Northeast Texas Wheat Grain Picks for 2021-2022

Dr. Fernando Guillen-Portal, Small Grains Extension Specialist, College Station, (406) 579-5638, f.guillenportal@agnet.tamu.edu

Dr. David Drake, Extension Agent – IPM, Commerce, (903) 455-9885, drdrake@ag.tamu.edu

Mr. Russell Sutton, Assistant Research Scientist, Commerce, (903) 468-6015, russell.sutton@ag.tamu.edu,

Russ Garetson, MS, Small Grains Extension Program Specialist, College Station, (214) 460-5510, russ.garetson@ag.tamu.edu

Pick varieties for hard red- and soft red winter wheats for the Blacklands are listed in Table 3 and their major characteristics are presented in Table 5.

Table 3. Texas A&M AgriLife hard red and soft red wheat grain variety Picks for the 2021-2022 Texas Blacklands wheat season. Picks are based on yield performance and consistency from 15 and 12 dryland trials in the Blacklands harvested from 2017-2021 for hard red and soft red wheats, respectively.

TAM 304 is a TAMU variety released in 2007 with superior performance under high-input conditions, durable resistance to leaf rust, and excellent straw strength. It has relative lower test weight but good baking quality. WB4699 has been a top yielder in the Blacklands region. Released in 2019, this variety has consistently provided higher yields with average test weight. It has a good resistance package.

South Texas Wheat Grain Picks for 2021-2022

Dr. Fernando Guillen-Portal, Small Grains Extension Specialist, College Station, (406) 579-5638,

Russ Garetson Small Grains Extension Program Specialist, College Station, (214) 460-5510.

Pick varieties for hard red- and soft red winter wheats for the Blacklands are listed in Table 4 and major characteristics of these varieties are shown in Table 5.

Table 4. Texas A&M AgriLife hard red and soft red wheat grain variety Picks for the 2021-2022 South Texas wheat season. Picks are based on yield performance and consistency from 9 partially irrigated and dryland trials primarily in South Texas harvested from 2019-2021.

Table 5. Major characteristics of 2021-2022 Picks varieties based on marketed traits and observations in Texas regional trials.^†

^† For information on traits of other common wheat varieties planted in Texas, consult “2021 Texas Wheat Variety Results”, pages 5 & 6, posted at http://varietytesting.tamu.wheat

ǂ Resistant to the wheat curl mite which provides resistance to wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV).

• Resistant to WSMV.

For additional information about wheat varieties and small grains production in Texas, consult http://varietytesting.tamu.edu/wheat/

September 2021

“Texas A&M AgriLife Extension provides equal opportunities in its programs and employment to all persons, regardless of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.”

The Texas A&M University System, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the County Commissioners Courts of Texas Cooperating.