2021 Hard Red Spring Wheat
2021 was a droughty year with extreme heat in June; record setting, there was no early rain in most places, with yield depending on stored soil moisture, and hit and miss showers. There were no real problems with lodging and, disease. Grain harvest went smoothly for the most part. However, rains came late in some places and did present some falling number issues for late variable emerging grain. With no lodging problems, the taller varieties often rose to the top in replicated yield trials. Yield performance for 2021 is presented in Table 1 with a 4-year summary depicted in Table 2. As a group the TCG varieties performed well in the drought when compared to historic averages.
TCG-Spitfire with proven drought tolerance performed very well in the 2021 in trials and farmers’ fields across the region. It is our best performing HRS year in and year out with big yield and medium protein and test weight across environments, excellent tolerance to BLS, not a problem in 2021. TCG-Spitfire is slightly susceptible to preharvest sprouting (PHS), so it should be harvested in a timely fashion, not a big problem in 2021.
TCG-Wildcat, our newest variety, was designed as a high yielding, high protein, high TW, management wheat for the RRV. TCG-Wildcat is much like TCG-Spitfire, but has higher protein and TW, with earlier maturity, and quicker dry down and good tolerance to PHS. In its first year of full commercial production, it performed very well, both in and outside the RRV. It yields right with TCG-Spitfire in most places with the aforementioned advantages. It quickly became a grower favorite. TCG-Wildcat is a certified seed only (CSO) variety.
TCG-Heartland performed very well in 2021 as an early, very high protein, high TW, good standing, high yielding variety. It has performed best on well drained and medium to lighter soils. It handled the drought pressure of 2021 very well in its area of adaptation. It has stood up well to PHS pressure with good FNs in the areas affected in both 2020 and 2019, not a big problem in 2021. TCG-Heartland is a certified seed only (CSO) variety.
TCG-Wildfire continues to look very good as a high yielding, medium high protein option on water impacted alkali ground. It showed excellent drought tolerance in these areas, its area of adaptation. Places like the Devil’s Lake area.
TCG-Glennville, as in 2019, continues to perform as a short, very early, good standing, high-quality management HRS for good environments North of Highway 2, planted at high seeding rates. It too did well in its area of adaptation under drought conditions in 2021.
All the TCG HRS varieties are good standing, management wheats in their areas of adaptation, with MS scab ratings of varying strengths. They are meant to be treated with fungicide.
Data on the TCG durum varieties, TCG-Bright and TCG-Webster, is presented in the NDSU Trials. TCG-Bright is a high quality, high HVAC durum for Western ND, it performed very well under the droughty conditions of 2021. Our newest variety TCG-Webster is a very early, short, good standing management durum with very rapid dry down, it comes off about the same time as barley, allowing for very timely harvest, preserving grain quality.
In addition to the TCG data presented here, you can find data on all of these varieties in University Trials throughout the region.