'Bill Brown' Winter Wheat
	Bill Brown Irrigated Field Plot Haxtun, Colorado June 2006	Dr. William M. Brown (Bill) Former CSU Extension Plant Pathologist

• High dryland and irrigated grain yield, excellent stress tolerance
• High test weight, one-half pound higher than 'Hatcher', one pound higher than 'Prairie Red'
• Heading three days later than 'Prairie Red', one day earlier than 'Hatcher'
• Height three inches taller than 'Prairie Red', one inch taller than 'Hatcher', similar to 'Akron'
• Short coleoptile (similar to 'Yuma'), good shattering tolerance, good straw strength
• Average grain protein content, similar to 'Hatcher and 'Akron'
• Good milling and baking properties
• Moderately resistant to stripe rust, resistant to leaf rust, resistant to biotype 1 RWA, susceptible to biotype 2 RWA, moderately susceptible to wheat streak mosaic virus
  
  The name 'Bill Brown' was chosen in honor of the memory of the late CSU Extension Plant Pathologist who devoted his career to the improvement and management of diseases of wheat and other grain crops.

Description

'Bill Brown' hard red winter wheat was developed by the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station and released to seed producers in August 2007. Bill Brown was released based on its superior adaptation under non-irrigated and irrigated production in eastern Colorado, high test weight, and resistance to prevalent races of leaf and stripe rust. 

Bill Brown is an awned, white-chaffed, medium maturing, semidwarf hard red winter wheat (Table 1). Bill Brown has medium maturity (141.5 days from Jan. 1), about 2.5 days later than Prairie Red, similar to Hatcher, Ankor, and Ripper, and 3.2 days earlier than Prowers 99. Plant height of Bill Brown is medium short (23.7 inches), about 0.9 inches taller than Prairie Red, 1.3 inches taller than Hatcher, similar to Ripper and Ankor, and 2.3 inches shorter than Prowers 99. Coleoptile length of Bill Brown (62.7 mm) is short, less than Prairie Red, Ripper, Hatcher, Ankor, and Prowers 99.

Selection History

Brown was selected from the cross 'Yumar/Arlin' made in 1997. Yumar is a hard red winter wheat cultivar released by Colorado State University in 1997 and Arlin is a hard white winter wheat cultivar released by Kansas State University in 1992.

Based on visual uniformity and agronomic appearance, CO01385 was selected in 2001 as an F3:4 line following early generation advance from the F2 to the F3 generations using the bulk breeding procedure. CO01385 was tested in preliminary yield trials in 2002. Prior to harvest at the Fort Collins location, 20 spikes were selected at random from CO01385 for line reselection. Bill Brown (initially identified as CO01385-A1) was selected as an F5:6 line reselection from CO01385 in Yuma, Arizona, in May 2003.

Bill Brown was evaluated in replicated preliminary yield trials in 2004, replicated CSU Elite trials from 2005 to 2007, replicated statewide dryland and irrigated variety trials from 2005 to 2007, and the Southern Regional Performance Nursery (SRPN) in 2006 and 2007.

Seed purification of Bill Brown was done by visual identification and manual removal of tall and red-chaffed off-types from bulk seed increases. Breeder seed (F5:10) was grown in 2007 under irrigation in Colorado.

Yield Performance

Bill Brown was tested at 32 trial locations of the Colorado Dryland Uniform Variety Performance Trial (UVPT) during 2005 (10 locations), 2006 (11 locations), and 2007 (11 locations) (Table 2). Mean grain yields of Bill Brown (41.3 bu/acre) were higher than those of all other entries tested except Hatcher (41.4 bu/acre). Average test weight of Bill Brown (58.9 bu/acre) was among the highest entries in the trial, about 0.7 lb/bu higher than trial average and significantly higher than Hatcher (0.4 lb/bu difference).

Bill Brown was tested at 9 trial locations of the Colorado Irrigated Variety Performance Trial (IVPT) during 2005 (3 locations), 2006 (3 locations), and 2007 (3 locations) (Table 3). In these trials, Bill Brown (91.6 bu/acre) had the highest mean grain yield, higher than Hatcher (94.5 bu/acre) and Yuma (93.0 bu/acre) and other wheat varieties (Bond CL, 88.2 bu/acre; TAM 111, 86.4 bu/acre) that have been at the top of the CSU Irrigated Variety Trials the last few years. Average test weight of Bill Brown in these trials was greater than the other high yielding varieties (i.e., Bond CL, TAM 111, Hatcher). Lodging scores were obtained from only one of these locations (Rocky Ford 2007). These data suggest that Bill Brown (3.3 score) has straw strength similar to Yuma (4.0 score) and better than Hatcher (5.7) score.

Bill Brown was tested at 40 locations of the CSU Elite Trial during the 2005 (10 locations), 2006 (12 locations), and 2007 (18 locations) (Table 4). The CSU Elite trial is planted adjacent to the CSU Variety Trials at many eastern Colorado locations and is also planted at various nearby locations in adjacent states, in collaboration with cooperators in those states. This trial includes mostly experimental lines from the CSU Wheat Breeding Program along with a reduced set of key check entries. In these trials, Bill Brown was higher yielding than each of the check entries based on averages over all testing locations, dryland testing locations only, irrigated testing locations only, and Colorado dryland testing locations only. Average test weights in these trials were also very high, about 0.7 lb/bu higher than Hatcher.

Disease and Insect Resistance

On the basis of evaluations through the USDA Regional Testing Program and field observations in Colorado, Bill Brown is moderately resistant to stem rust, resistant to leaf rust, and moderately resistant to stripe rust. Under field infection from prevalent stripe rust races in eastern Colorado, the resistance in Bill Brown (4.1 score, n=14 observations; 1=very resistant to 9=very susceptible scale) is similar to Hatcher (3.6 score), less than Jagalene (2.7 score) and TAM 111 (1.6 score), and greater than Ripper (8.6 score). Based on cooperative evaluations through the USDA Regional Testing Program, Bill Brown is moderately susceptible to wheat streak mosaic virus, susceptible to the Great Plains Biotype of Hessian fly, and susceptible to greenbug Biotype E. Bill Brown is resistant to Russian wheat aphid Biotype 1 and susceptible to Russian wheat aphid Biotype 2. Resistance to Russian wheat aphid Biotype 1 in Bill Brown is conditioned by the Dn4 resistance gene from the Yumar parent.

End-Use Quality Characteristics

Milling and bread baking characteristics (Table 5 ) of Bill Brown were determined in the CSU Wheat Quality Laboratory from multiple individual location grain samples from the 2004, 2005, and 2006 seasons. Above, Ankor, and Hatcher were used as checks in these evaluations.

Values for milling related variables were acceptable for Bill Brown compared to the check entries. Bill Brown had overall smaller kernels (weight and diameter) and higher hardness score than the check entries, yet similar flour extraction values compared to the check entries.

For baking related variables, Bill Brown was more similar to Hatcher (a good baking quality check) than the other two checks (Ankor is average baking quality, Above is inferior). Grain protein content of Bill Brown was similar to the check entries, while its dough mixing properties (Mixograph and bake mixing time, Mixograph tail width) were generally superior to Ankor and Above. Bill Brown showed greater loaf volume than Above, yet similar loaf volume and crumb grain scores compared to the other check entries.

Development Team

Scott D. Haley, Jerry J. Johnson, Frank B. Peairs, James S. Quick, John A. Stromberger, Joshua D. Butler, Hayley R. Miller, Emily Heaton, Jeff B. Rudolph, Bradford W. Seabourn, Guihua Bai, Yue Jin, and Jim Kolmer

Affiliations

• S.D. Haley, J.J. Johnson, J.S. Quick, J.A. Stromberger, J.D. Butler, H.R. Miller, E.E. Heaton, 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, USDA-ARS-GMPRC-GQSRU, 1515 College Ave., Manhattan, KS 66502-2736
• G. Bai, USDA/ARS/PSERU, Kansas State Univ., 4008 Throckmorton Hall, Manhattan, KS  66506
• Y. Jin and J. Kolmer, USDA/ARS/CDL, 1551 Lindig St., Univ. Minnesota, St. Paul, MN  55108

References and Notes

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

Acknowledgements

Bill Brown was developed with financial support from Colorado Agric. Exp. Stn. Projects 795 and 646, the Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee, and the Colorado Wheat Research Foundation.