New high quality wheats released

Press, 25 May 1984, Page 17

New high quality wheats released

The Crop Research Division of the D.S.I.R. has announced the release of three new high quality wheat cultivars to assist New Zealand growers in meeting the challenge of freer trade in wheat and flour under the C.E.R. agreement with Australia.

The release of the new varieties. Otane. Weka and Kotare. breaks new ground for the Crop Research Division in several ways.

The three new wheats all promise quality scores significantly better than the preferred varieties at present.

Therefore they have been released in the expectation that they will find a place in the market even though they do not offer higher yields than established cultivars.

The new varieties all have good stripe rust resistance, reflecting the quick response of New Zealand wheat breeders to the presence, over the last three years, of that disease in this country.

Weka is also a white wheat, the first to be released in New Zealand for a long time as red wheats have been preferred for the resistance to sprout. Australia. however, only produces white wheats.

The director of the Crop Research Division, Dr Michael Dunbier, has called the new cultivars "new generation wheats."

By this he means they have been designed by the breeder for special consumer requirements, principally high quality.

As such he does not expect that any of the three will become a general purpose wheat for all regions, but they do offer significant improvements in quality for farmers who can grow them successful?.

© OTANE is a redgrained spring wheat, equal or slightly better than Oroua in yield and quality and having a very good resistance to stripe rust. It is a short-strawed, awned wheat of Mexican origin, with a large grain and is suitable for growing in the North Island, Marlborough. Canterbury and North Otago.

In North Island trials Otane has produced baking scores a few points either side of an average of 24 (high 30.2 and low 19.4). In Canterbury and North Otago trials it has averaged

22 (high 24.5 and low 20.6).

• WEKA is similar in height and maturity to Rongotea but it is awnless. It is about equal in yield to Rongotea but it bakes two points above that cultivar on the M.D.D. scale and shows excellent potential for the traditional bulk fermentation method of bread making. Its white colour makes it more attractive to millers and it is an autumn wheat. Where there is no risk of sprouting, probably in Canterbury regions in good harvesting years. Weka is expected to be of greater value than Kopara or Rongotea because of its superior flour and baking qualities.

Weka has consistently scored two points above the standards in the M.D.D. test over the last five years, with an average score in Canterbury in 1981-82 of 20. in 1982-83 of 18 and in the last harvest of 17. © KOTARE which, like Weka, was bred at Lincoln.

is a red-grained autumn wheat with an average yield of around 6 per cent below the standard Rongotea but it has baked 3 to 5 points above it on the M.D.D. scale. It is an awnless wheat with good resistance to stripe rust and other diseases. The C.R.D. has grown Kotare which scored 24 on the M.D.D. scale and last harvest it averaged 20 in Canterbury. Dr Dunbier said that the three new wheats gave NewZealand farmers the chance to grow something approaching Australian standard white in quality.

"I don't know how the battle between New Zealand and Australian wheat industries is going to end up. but these wheats give New Zealand growers some more bullets," he said.

The announcement of the release of these wheats would inject a bit of confidence into a dispirited industry, he believed.

They will not be widely available for sowing until the 1986 season, as the next

two seasons will be taken up with multiplication.

Late in 1985 they will probably be considered for inclusion on the Recommended List and by the Wheat Board for payment basis.

The breeders who collaborated on the development and release of Weka and Kotare are Mr Graham Wright and Dr Don Wright. Mr Wright will retire from the C.R.D. later this year and the release of the two new wheats has been a highlight of his career. The two Wrights are not related in human terms but they could be considred joint foster fathers of the wheat varieties.

Mr Wright said that some new techniques in cereal breeding, particularly the use of electrophoresis and what is called the S.D.S. procedure, had lifted the potential for concentration on wheat quality aspects. This was very fortunate for New Zealand, which needed to respond quickly to the C.E.R. pressure.