LANSING, Mich. – Wheat producers are encouraged to check out a key piece of the Michigan Wheat Program’s research agenda, available in the just-published Report on the 2024 MSU Wheat Performance Trials. For over 30 years, Michigan State University has been conducting Wheat Performance Trials. This marks the 12th consecutive year the Michigan Wheat Program has provided funding and resources for the report that compares yield, disease resistance and quality parameters. This year’s report has a special focus on falling number issues.

Farmers intending to plant wheat this fall should consult the report to learn more about the 101 varieties tested across Michigan, according to MSU wheat systems specialist Dennis Pennington. Pennington completed harvest of the plots in mid-July and finalized the report along with MSU wheat breeder Dr. Eric Olson.

“Falling number issues in our wheat crop are becoming more and more of a problem,” said Michigan Wheat Program chairman Jeffery Krohn, a wheat farmer from Owendale. “There is much more to learn about this issue, so it makes sense to add it to the variety trial work. We do know that early harvest at higher moisture is an important tool. Especially in years like this when hurricane-like rains arrived at the wrong time.”

Jody Pollok-Newsom, executive director of the Michigan Wheat Program, said, “New variety development has consistently been a top priority for Michigan’s wheat farmers. This report is a compilation of yield, disease and quality data on 101 wheat varieties. About half of them are experimental lines from 13 seed companies, including MSU. Investing in research that helps wheat growers be profitable is a key mission for the Michigan Wheat Program.”

Variety selection

Selecting what variety of wheat to plant is one of the most important decisions a grower will make. It sets the bar for yield potential of the crop. High-yielding varieties with disease resistance should be the primary criteria when selecting varieties.

The complete 2024 MSU Wheat Performance Trial Report (17 pages) is available at  https://miwheat.org/wp-content/uploads/2024-Final-Report.pdf. Or by visiting www.miwheat.org and going to the Research Results and High Management Results tabs. The report includes scientifically based, unbiased evaluation of yield, disease resistance and grain quality performance of about 50-60 commercially available wheat varieties, as well as other varieties still in the evaluation phase. In addition, adaptation to local growing conditions should also be considered.

Variety selection is best made using at least three years of data. Varieties selected using data across all locations will likely perform well under a wide range of conditions. Although, performance of a given variety will vary based on testing location.

When selecting varieties for a specific location, it is important to identify varieties that perform well near the location where the variety will be grown. Selection and planting of two or more varieties is recommended. As an example, planting varieties that differ in flowering date can allow for staggering fungicide applications and also spread out harvest.

New this year – falling number analysis

Poor falling number (FN) has been a problem in Michigan three out of the last four years. FN measures the integrity of starch in the kernels. Ideally, milling quality wheat should have a FN of 350 or higher. There are two known causes for low FN – preharvest sprout (PHS) and late maturity alpha-amylase activity (LMA).

PHS is caused by frequent rainfall at harvest, after grain moisture has dried below 20 percent. LMA is caused by cool temperatures between the soft and hard dough stages of development.

To address both issues, varieties entered in the MSU Wheat Performance Trials are being tested for FN. Spikes were sampled from two replications of the Ingham County site for FN.

Spikes were dried five days and then subjected to misting in the greenhouse for three days. Whole meal flour was milled from misted grain using a coffee grinder. FN was then evaluated in two technical replicates on each biological replicate.

That data is reported in Table 3 of the Report. Most people believe that FN is generally a white wheat problem, but from the data one can see that after three days of rain, red wheat can suffer from low falling number.

Since this has become such a major problem for Michigan wheat growers, a series of research projects also funded by the Michigan Wheat Program have been initiated to learn more about the effect of rain events on FN, as well as identify varieties that have some level of tolerance.

More research is needed to gain a better understanding of what happens in the field and figure out ways to manage it. That is why the Michigan Wheat Program is investing in this research.