Queensland's Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries (QDPI&F), Henry Palaszczuk, has officially named three new wheat varieties bred by his department within the Enterprise Grains Australia (EGA) joint venture that also includes the NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSWDPI), Agriculture Western Australia and the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).

"In line with QDPI&F tradition of naming wheat varieties after Australian explorers, the new varieties are called EGA Gregory, EGA Wylie and EGA Wentworth," Mr Palaszczuk said. "All have either Australian Hard or Prime Hard classification and will be commercially available in 2006.

Pacific Seeds successfully tendered for the licence to market these varieties nationally and internationally. The company plans extensive field demonstrations and seed expansion plots of the new varieties across Australia in the 2005 winter season as a prelude to the commercial release of seed for the 2006 winter crop."
 

Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (QWDPI&F) wheat breeder Phil Banks has told growers in Central Queensland the three varieties released in October by Minister Palaszczuk have been in the plant breeding production line for 12 years and specifically targeted for regional field trials since 1999.

"EGA Gregory, a slower maturity Australian Prime Hard (APH) classification wheat and EGA Wylie, an intermediate maturity Australian Hard (AH) wheat, are both ideally suited to Central Queensland¹s growing conditions," Dr Banks said.

"EGA Gregory, which fits the Central region's April planting window, has excellent baking qualities and noodle sheet colour that will make it an in-demand product on our domestic and international markets. EGA Wylie is expected to replace the existing commercial variety Baxter, as it has disease resistance advantages and its lower height makes it more lodging resistant."

Dr Banks said that, given the current smaller market price premium offered for APH lines at a minimum 13 per cent protein, growers were now more inclined to target higher yielding AH wheats to maximise their returns.