Crop Tech Corner

OMAHA (DTN) -- This bi-monthly column condenses the latest news in the field of crop technology, research and products.

'JOE' WHEAT VARIETY RELEASED

Kansas State University Extension announced the release of a new white winter wheat variety that held up well against common pests and diseases found in western Kansas, according to a news release from the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. The breed was named after retired wheat breeder Joe Martin.

The variety, KS11HW39-5-4, was selected from a two-way cross of "KS04HW101- 3/KS04HW119-3" using a modified bulk breeding method. According to the news release, in the pedigree both KS04HW101-3 and KS04HW119-3 are hard white experimental lines developed by the Kansas State University wheat breeding program in Hays.

"KS11HW39-5-4 has performed very well in western Kansas and has a significant increase in yield potential over currently grown varieties," the news release said.

Between 2013 and 2015, dryland testing across western Kansas showed the breed averaged yields that were about 16% higher than "Danby" and about 33% higher than "TAM 111." Danby and TAM 111 are the most-adapted hard white and hard red wheat varieties in western Kansas.

"In the 2015 Kansas wheat performance test, the average yield of KS11HW39-5-4 ranked No. 1 across dryland testing sites in western Kansas and was at least 5% higher than all other varieties in the trials," the news release said.

The variety also has been tested in irrigated fields in Colby, Kansas, for the past three years. Yields averaged 103.7 bushels per acre, which was about 19% higher than Danby and 27% higher than TAM 111, according to the release.

"KS11HW39-5-4 has very good resistance to the three most important diseases in western Kansas: wheat streak mosaic virus, stripe rust, and leaf rust," the release said.

In addition, KS11HW39-5-4 has been found to have better white and whole flour baking quality than Danby, a comparable milling quality to Danby, and has a test weight of around 61 pounds per bushel.

STUDY FINDS SOME BEE-SAFE CHEMICALS

With ongoing struggles to maintain pollinator populations, a recent study attempts to pinpoint what pesticides may actually be safer for bees, finding seven of 42 that were reportedly safer for bees and 26 pesticides that killed virtually all bees.

The study, http://tinyurl.com/…, conducted by Mississippi State University in partnership with USDA and published in the Journal of Economic Entomology, identified three pesticides that killed less than 1% of bees. That includes an herbicide, a miticide and a neonicotinoid.

"To combat an increasing abundance of sucking insect pests, (more than) 40 pesticides are currently recommended and frequently used as foliar sprays on row crops, especially cotton," the authors wrote about the study. "Foraging honey bees may be killed when they are directly exposed to foliar sprays, or they may take contaminated pollen back to hives that may be toxic to other adult bees and larvae.

"To assess acute toxicity against the honey bee, we used a modified spray tower to simulate field spray conditions to include direct whole-body exposure, inhalation, and continuing tarsal contact and oral licking after a field spray. A total of 42 formulated pesticides, including one herbicide and one fungicide, were assayed for acute spray toxicity to 4- to 6-day-old workers. Results showed significantly variable toxicities among pesticides, with LC50s ranging from 25 to thousands of mg/liter. Further risk assessment using the field application concentration to LC1 or LC99 ratios revealed the risk potential of the 42 pesticides."

The remaining 13 chemicals killed a range of 1% to 99% of the bees at field application rates.

"This study reveals a realistic acute toxicity of 42 commonly used foliar pesticides," the study said. "The information is valuable for guiding insecticide selection to minimize direct killing of foraging honey bees, while maintaining effective control of field crop pests."

PATENT FOR RESISTANT STARCH WHEAT

Davis, California-based agricultural technology company Arcadia Biosciences announced in a news release it was granted a patent for technology for a non-genetically engineered, higher-fiber wheat variety.

The wheat was developed using the company's proprietary wheat genetic diversity library, "an extensive and exclusive resource of wheat lines with high-density variations in genetic composition and gene function," according to a news release. The wheat project was funded in part by a grant from the U.S. National Institutes for Health.

Resistant starch is a dietary fiber digested more slowly than regular starch. According to the company, slower digestion results in a slower release of glucose into the bloodstream, meaning food products made with the wheat variety have a lower glycemic index.

"Compared to conventional wheat varieties, which have very low levels of resistant starch, Arcadia's RS wheat has significantly higher levels of total dietary fiber in both whole grain flour and especially refined white flour," the news release said.

The company said the global market for whole-grain and high-fiber foods is projected to reach $29.5 billion by 2020.

GENE-DRIVE TECHNOLOGY ADVANCES

Scientists at Cornell University studying so-called gene drive technology say the idea of introducing a gene mutation into mosquito and other pest populations could, for example, at some point help farmers combat pesticide-resistant pests by altering their genetic makeup allowing such resistance, according to a news release from Cornell University, http://tinyurl.com/….

Researchers have cautioned gene drives may have unintended consequences, including spreading gene traits inadvertently into unintended species.

Cornell scientists created a model to test how quickly and how extensively gene drivers could spread among insect populations.

The gene-drive mechanism recently was demonstrated in fruit flies in laboratories at the University of California, San Diego.

In that experiment, researchers found the gene driver became fixed in fruit fly populations "on the order of tens of generations," according UCSD scientist Rob Unckless, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics. According to Cornell, through natural selection, it can take hundreds of generations for such a gene to become prevalent.

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

Follow him on Twitter @ToddNeeleyDTN

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