'Ankor' Winter Wheat
	Ankor Breeder Seed Headrow Increase Yuma, Arizona April 2001	Ankor Field Plot Julesburg, Colorado July 2001

'Ankor' winter wheat was developed by the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station and released to seed producers in September 2002. Ankor was derived from the crosses and backcrosses Akron/Halt//4*Akron made between 1994 and 1998. Halt and Akron are cultivars released by CSU in 1994. Halt carries the dominant Dn4 gene, the source of Russian wheat aphid (RWA) resistance in Ankor.

Ankor is an awned, white-glumed, medium maturity, semidwarf hard red winter wheat. Ankor is medium maturing (144.8 days to heading from Jan. 1), about 3.5 days later than Prairie Red and similar to Akron. Plant height of Ankor is medium-short (30.1 inches), 1.7 inches taller than TAM 107 and similar to Akron. Coleoptile length of Ankor is slightly less than Prairie Red and similar to Akron. The straw strength of Ankor is good, slightly better than Akron based on limited evaluation and observation in irrigated trials in 2002.

Selection History

Ankor was selected as a BC4F1:2 line in 1999 and was given the experimental designation CO99508. For generation of breeder seed, 756 spikes were selected at random from a BC4F1:3 generation seed increase grown in Yuma, AZ, in 2000. Breeder Seed of Ankor originated from a composite of 281 BC4F3:4 head-rows selected from a headrow purification (for RWA resistance and visual uniformity) grown in Yuma, AZ, in 2001.

Yield Performance

Ankor was tested in Colorado Dryland Variety Performance Trials (Colorado UVPT) during 2001 and 2002. Averaged over eight dryland trial locations in 2001, Ankor (41.6 bu/a) yielded less than Akron (43.2 bu/a) and greater than Prairie Red (40.7 bu/a). Averaged over three dryland trial locations in 2002, Ankor (33.7 bu/a) yielded more than Akron (33.2 bu/a) and less than Prairie Red (34.6 bu/a). Averaged over 11 locations in 2001 and 2002, Ankor (39.4 bu/a) yielded more than Prairie Red (39.0 bu/a) and less than Akron (40.4 bu/a). Test weight averages from dryland trials in 2001 and 2002 show that Ankor (56.8 lb/bu) has similar test weight to both Akron (57.0 lb/bu) and Prairie Red (56.8 lb/bu). Ankor was tested in Colorado Irrigated Variety Performance Trials (Colorado IVPT) during 2002. Averaged over three irrigated trial locations in 2002, Ankor (78.9 bu/a) yielded more than Akron (69.5 bu/a), Prairie Red (73.2 bu/a), and Yumar (74.6 bu/a).

Disease and Insect Resistance

On the basis of field evaluations in Colorado and cooperative evaluations through the USDA Regional Testing Program, Ankor has shown a similar response as Akron to prevalent diseases and insects in the west central Great Plains. Ankor is moderately resistant to stem rust (caused by Puccinia graminis Pers.:Pers. f. sp. tritici Eriks & E. Henn.), susceptible to leaf rust (caused by Puccinia triticina Eriks.; syn Puccinia recondita Roberge ex Desmaz.), and susceptible to both wheat streak mosaic virus and barley yellow dwarf virus. Ankor is susceptible to the Great Plains biotype of Hessian fly [Mayetiola destructor (Say)], susceptible to greenbug [Schizaphis graminum (Rondani)], and resistant to Russian wheat aphid [Diuraphis noxia (Mordvilko)].

End-Use Quality Characteristics

Milling and bread baking quality of Ankor was evaluated from multi-location grain composite samples collected in 2000 and 2001 and four individual-location grain samples collected in 2001. Relative to the recurrent parent Akron, Ankor showed very similar average values for key milling and bread baking quality traits. Based on evaluations from private industry collaborators and summaries from the Hard Winter Wheat Quality Database, however, Ankor appeared to show slightly improved bread baking quality relative to Akron.

Development Team

Scott D. Haley, James S. Quick, Frank B. Peairs, Jerry J. Johnson, John A. Stromberger, Sally R. Clayshulte, Bruce L. Clifford, Jeff B. Rudolph, Bradford W. Seabourn, and Okky K. Chung

Affiliations

• S.D. Haley, J.S. Quick, J.A. Stromberger, S.R. Clayshulte, B.L. Clifford, and J.J. Johnson, Soil and Crop Sciences Dep., Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO 80523
• F.B. Peairs, and J.B. Rudolph, Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management Dep., Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO 80523
• B. W. Seabourn and O.K. Chung, USDA-ARS-GMPRC-GQSRU, 1515 College Ave., Manhattan, KS 66502-2736

References and Notes

Breeder seed of Ankor will be maintained by the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station. Ankor has been submitted for U.S. Plant Variety Protection under P.L. 91-577 with the certification option.

Acknowledgements

Ankor was developed with financial support from Colorado Agric. Exp. Stn. Projects 795 and 646 and the Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee.