Paris, France
July 20, 2009
Registered in the French catalogue in the autumn of 2008, BAROK is a new, winter, soft wheat variety bred by INRA. Its excellent yield and good disease resistance means it is a high-performance variety that is particularly well-suited to the demands of environmentally-friendly agriculture.
BAROK is the result of twelve years' collective work by the INRA "Straw Cereals" group, which is made up of units in Clermont-Ferrand, Dijon, Rennes, La Minière and Mons. The principal objectives of breeding were to create winter soft wheat varieties for sustainable agriculture; i.e. varieties combining high yield, disease resistance and tolerance of nitrogen stress, while presenting with good technological traits.
12 years of selection
It was at INRA in Mons in 1997 that the initial cross was achieved with the gametocide technique (using a chemical sterilizer to obtain crosses rapidly and on a large scale). The two parents, a superior bread-making wheat variety and a line bred at Mons, were both late-ripening, with good disease tolerance and a high yield. The initial cross followed standard genealogical selection, like the other 120 crosses obtained in parallel. Thus, in 1999, it was possible to sow different hybrids in a mixture in order to express as much genetic diversity as possible. After an initial sorting by size, seeds were sown at low density in a nursery for selection regarding traits such as height, disease resistance, tilling and earliness, etc. At this stage, 150,000 plants were monitored in order to retain 3000. The latter were harvested manually, one by one, in order to prevent any mixing, and then sown under dense conditions to obtain a population similar to that found on farms. The voluntary contamination of populations with yellow rust enabled a more specific sorting with respect to disease susceptibility. By this time it was 2002, and only 400 lines remained. With about one kilo of grain harvested for each of the lines, it was now possible to perform the first yield trials at two sites: Mons again (for trials without plant protection treatment) and La Minière (for intensive trials). Some twenty lines remained candidates after introduction of the yield factor. These lines were tested by experimental farms belonging to the INRA network with a view to in-depth examination of their behaviour in different geographical situations: Dijon, Rennes, Clermont-Ferrand, Mons, La Minière, Lusignan and Orgeval. At the end of 2005, six varieties remained in contention, and the technological aptitudes of three of them (flour quality, protein content, quality of bread crumb, etc.) were assessed during two successive years.
In parallel, Agri Obtentions initiated its work on the permanence of the varieties, in order to define the homogeneity and stability criteria necessary for registration in the French catalogue. In the autumn of 2008, BAROK was registered in the French catalogue of plant species with the best CTPS score for northern France: 113.6%.
Very good agronomic performance
The yield of BAROK over the years was consistently high. In 2008, this variety ranked second during trials performed by the official CTPS (Permanent Technical Committee for Seed Selection) network for northern France following treatment, and first with no treatment. Indeed, BAROK obtained bonus points for fusariosis, which is remarkable amongst French wheat varieties, as until now this trait has been the subject of little selection. BAROK also scored well for other diseases: glume blotch (7/9), yellow rust (8/9) and brown rust (7/9). BAROK is a variety of intermediate earliness which has very good resistance to cold. For this reason, its region of cultivation is preferably north of the Loire River.
Official tests conducted by the CTPS in 2007 registered BAROK as a BAU (Blé Autre Usages, or wheat for other uses).
Technological tests performed by INRA units in Nantes and Clermont-Ferrand made it possible to register BAROK as a BP wheat (Blé Panifiable, or bread-making wheat). Additional analyses are under way on the 2008 harvest to validate the quality positioning of BAROK.
BAROK was starring on the Agri Obtentions stand at the Culturales 2009 (June 3-4, 2009, in Boigneville), organised by ARVALIS-Institut du Végétal, CETIOM, FNAMS, ITB and UNIP.
For more information on the event, go to the website at: http://www.lesculturales.com
For further information :
Direction Commerciale
Agri Obtentions
BP 36 – Chemin de la petite Minière
78041 GUYANCOURT Cedex
www.agriobtentions.com
Tel: +33(0)1 30 48 23 00
Fax: +33(0)1 30 48 23 23
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