Australian Grain Technologies (AGT) today released Gladius, a new wheat variety with excellent tolerance to the tough, dry conditions often encountered by South Australian growers.

Approximately 300 tonnes of Gladius are expected to be available through local seed distributors, ready for 2007 sowing.

Gladius was designed to help growers manage the high risk of cropping in South Australia’s hostile climatic conditions.

“Most South Australian growers want to capture the highest possible financial returns in good growing years to buffer the often severe consequences of drought years,” said Dr. Stephen Jefferies, Chief Executive Officer of AGT.

“Therefore the challenge for our wheat breeders is to develop a variety that shows solid performance in the good years, and is tough enough to avoid or minimise losses in the bad drought years.”

“We developed Gladius with this in mind, and believe it will be a valuable tool for managing the climatic risks in South Australian cropping.”

Gladius was tested as RAC1262 and developed by AGT’s Roseworthy wheat breeding team, in collaboration with former SARDI employee Dr. Neil Howes. Gladius was derived from a cross involving Excalibur, Kukri, Krichauff, a Trident derivative and RAC875, a breeder’s line that was not released commercially but has demonstrated exceptional performance under drought conditions.

“The cross that generated Gladius combines the grain yield of Excalibur, Krichauff and RAC875 with the rust and disease resistance and quality of Kukri and the Trident derivative,” said Haydn Kuchel, head wheat breeder for Australian Grain Technologies at Roseworthy.

“The exciting news is that Gladius has shown excellent yield performance in good years like 2005, and in tough years like 2006.”

In fact, preliminary results from the 2006 National Variety Trials show Gladius to be the overall highest-yielding commercial variety across South Australian trials. This excellent performance in a drought year was preceded by an overall second ranking to Pugsley in the higher yielding 2005 season trials.

Over five years of trials specifically targeting drought affected areas in South Australia, Gladius has often produced yields 20-30% higher than benchmark varieties Frame and Yitpi, and 10-15% above other proven drought performers Wyalkatchem and Westonia.

“AGT was able to fast-track the development of Gladius due in part to financial contributions from the South Australian Grains Industry Trust and the South Australian Premier’s Drought Relief Fund,” said Dr. Jefferies.
“The additional support enabled AGT to significantly shorten the time period from first cross to commercial release by three years on this particular variety.”

Gladius is the latest variety release from AGT and its plant breeding venture partners, including the Grains Research and Development Corporation, University of Adelaide, South Australian Research and Development Institute, Sydney University and Graincorp.