Lexington, Kentucky
September 19, 2007
The
University of Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station and
the Kentucky Small Grain Growers Association teamed up this
spring to offer a new wheat variety to Kentucky producers under
a unique arrangement.
“For many years the UK Wheat Breeding program has been
generously supported by checkoff dollars administered by
KySGGA,” said Dave Van Sanford, UK wheat breeder, who developed
the variety through UK’s wheat breeding program. “The release of
the variety called Pembroke is seen as a way to give
something back to the Kentucky wheat producers.”
The first step in this process is to produce enough foundation
seed for sale and distribution. During the 2007-08 production
year, Pembroke will be produced at three locations in Kentucky.
Once the foundation seed is cleaned and conditioned, the KySGGA
will begin marketing the seed for the 2008-2009 growing season.
The agreement with the UK Agricultural Experiment Station states
KySGGA will sell seed in 100-bushel increments at $30 per
bushel.
“In our research efforts in the college our goal is to provide
farmers with ever improving technologies, and these efforts are
often supported by farmers through their commodity
organizations,” said Nancy Cox, UK College of Agriculture
associate dean for research and director of the agricultural
experiment station. “Being able to provide this Kentucky-bred
variety to the state’s producers is a great example of this team
effort coming to fruition.”
Pembroke is neither patented nor protected under the Plant
Variety Protection Act, Van Sanford said. This means that once
growers have seed of the variety, they have the right to produce
and save seed for their future use, or they can sell seed to
others as long as they adhere to all statutes of the Kentucky
Seed Law.
"Several Kentucky wheat producers have expressed interest in
acquiring the UK variety," said Todd Barlow, KySGGA executive
director. "Our goal is to make the variety available to as many
producers as possible."
Pembroke is a bearded, soft red winter wheat released for its
grain yield potential, superior test weight and excellent
powdery mildew resistance. Pembroke also has good resistance to
prevalent races of stripe rust, and moderate resistance to
Fusarium head blight and speckled leaf blotch, Van Sanford said.
Straw strength and lodging resistance of Pembroke are excellent;
milling and baking quality is acceptable. Pembroke is mid-early,
heading approximately two days later than the ‘Clark’ variety;
however Pembroke breaks dormancy early and therefore should not
be planted too early in the fall, Van Sanford said.
UK College of Agriculture, through its land-grant mission,
reaches across the commonwealth with teaching, research and
extension to enhance the lives of Kentuckians.
By Laura Skillman |
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