Wheat Breeding

Wheat improvement efforts at Hays started soon after the turn of the century when the station was first established. Since then, 14 wheat varieties primarily developed at Hays have been released to Kansas wheat producers. Over 120 million Kansas wheat acres have been planted with Hays-developed varieties. Those varieties include Kiowa, Bison, Eagle, Sage, Kirwin, Larned, Cheney, Arkan, Dodge, Norkan, Ike, Trego, Lakin, and Stanton. Genetic enhancement of wheat at Hays is an integral part of the total Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station’s wheat improvement program. Close cooperation exists between the Hays and Manhattan wheat improvement units. The Hays unit primarily develops varieties adapted to western Kansas while the Manhattan unit concentrates on varieties adapted to central and eastern Kansas. Varieties such as Newton, Karl, Karl 92, Jagger, and 2137 were selected by the Manhattan unit, but were thoroughly tested by both programs statewide prior to release.

In 1987, the breeding focus at Hays begin changing gradually to the development of hard winter wheats with a white seed coat. This change in focus culminated in 1998 when the program was almost totally directed toward the development of hard white winter wheats. This change has been implemented in an effort to increase world demand for Kansas wheat. The world markets prefer white wheat and only purchase red wheat if white is not available or red wheat price is discounted significantly. Within the next few years, hard white winter wheat varieties capable of performing equal to or better than the currently grown hard red varieties will be available to Kansas producers.

Breeding objectives for white wheats adapted to western Kansas include the development of white seeded varieties that have excellent bread baking characteristics as well as excellent noodle making characteristics. Noodle quality is very important to gaining market share in Asia. Control of major pests through host resistance is also a high priority. Resistance to wheat streak mosaic, leaf rust, Hessian fly, and Russian wheat aphid top the objective list.

KS05WH136 Video (30 MB)

An informational video discussing the experimental line KS05WH136.  The video highlights the general characteristics of the experimental line and the possibility of its future release. 

Arlin Wheat Variety
Arlin is a new hard white winter wheat variety developed cooperatively by the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station and the Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). It was tested and evaluated as selection KS-SB-369-7. Arlin has been released exclusively to the American White Wheat Producers Association (AWWPA)1. Foundation seed of Arlin was distributed in the fall of 1992. Foundation and certified seed will be available to producers within the AWWPA for fall planting in 1993.

Danby Wheat Variety
Danby is a new, hard white winter wheat variety developed and released by the Kansas
Agricultural Experiment Station. Foundation seed was distributed to seed producers in 2005.  Foundation, Registered, and Certified seed will be available in the fall of 2006.

Fuller Wheat Variety
Fuller is a new hard red winter wheat variety developed cooperatively by the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station and the Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Foundation seed of Fuller was distributed to Kansas registered seed growers for fall planting in 2006. Foundation and registered seed will be available for fall planting in 2007.  Fuller is named for Herbert Fuller Roberts, a professor of botany who first began selection for improved varieties of hard winter wheat in Kansas in 1906. One of those selections became 'Kanred', the first improved wheat variety released by K-State. The name was chosen in honor of the Centennial Celebration of the Department of Agronomy at Kansas State University.

Ike Wheat Variety
Ike is a new hard red winter wheat variety developed cooperatively by the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station and the Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. The Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station has joined the developing institutions in the release of Ike.  Seed of Ike was distributed to Kansas and Nebraska registered seed producers for fall planting in 1993. Foundation and Registered seed will be available for fall planting in 1994.

Lakin Wheat Variety
Lakin is a new, hard white winter wheat variety developed cooperatively by the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station and the USDA Agricultural Research Service. Agricultural experiment stations in Nebraska and Colorado joined in the release of Lakin. Seed was distributed in these states for fall planting in 2000. Foundation and Registered seed will be available to producers for planting in 2001 and Certified seed should be available in 2002.

RonL Wheat Variety
RonL is a new, hard white winter wheat variety developed and released by the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. Foundation seed was distributed to seed producers in 2006. Foundation, Registered, and Certified seed will be available in the fall of 2007. RonL was named to honor the contributions that Dr. Ron Livers made to the Kansas wheat industry by developing such wheat varieties as Eagle, Sage, and Larned during his tenure at the KSU Agricultural Research Center — Hays.

Trego Wheat Variety
Trego is a new, hard white winter wheat variety developed by the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. Agricultural Experiment Stations at Nebraska, Colorado, and Oklahoma joined Kansas in the release of Trego. Seed was distributed in these states for fall planting in 1999. Foundation, Registered and Certified seed will be available in 2000.