Moscow, Idaho, USA
June 20, 2014

An agricultural field day sponsored by the University of Idaho and Limagrain Cereal Seeds July 8 near Genesee will focus on highlighting collaborative UI-LCS research and breeding efforts tohelp wheat growers in Idaho and beyond.

The field day will include leading wheat researchers and top officials from the university, its College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and Limagrain Cereal Seeds, a U.S. affiliate of one of the world’s top seed companies.

The event will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the university’s Kambitsch Farm, 2.5 miles north of Genesee along U.S. Highway 95. The event is free and open to the public and will include a sponsored lunch at noon.

The field day will offer updates on wheat variety trials by Kurt Schroeder, UI cropping systems agronomist at Moscow; cereals work in Nez Perce County by Doug Finkelnburg, UI regional agronomist at Lewiston; wheatbreeding and variety development by Jianli Chen, UI wheat breeder at Aberdeen; and the UI-LCS joint wheat variety development program by Jean-Bruno Beaufumé, LCS wheat breeder at Walla Walla, Wash.

In addition to offering the opportunity to view extensive wheat variety trials, the field day will introduce a first in wheat breeding – a new variety released jointly by the University of Idaho and Washington State University.

The new soft white winter wheat will be named UI-WSU Huffman in honor of UI College of Agricultural and Life Sciences’ alumnus Bradley Huffman, who suddenly and tragically died last year at age 22. Bradley grew up near Cavendish on a family farm operated by his parents, Doug and Julie Huffman. He worked in the university wheat breeding program throughout his undergraduate training. During this time his contribution to the breeding program was significant, said UI plant breeder Jack Brown.

This new variety offers “high yields under dryland conditions, with excellent quality and good resistance to two important wheat diseases, Cephalosporium stripe and yellow stripe rust,” said Brown, who oversaw the variety’s later development and release.

UI-WSU Huffman is a joint release because it resulted from a cross between Bruneau, a cultivar developed by former UI wheat breeder Bob Zemetra, and a wheat breeding line developed at Washington State University.

The new variety will be licensed by and marketed exclusively by Limagrain Cereal Seeds. All of the seed royalties that would normally be allocated to the cultivar breeder and the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences will go to the Bradley Huffman Scholarship for Plant Breeding and Plant Sciences to commemorate Bradley Huffman’s life.

More information about the field day is available by contacting Carly Raska with the college at (208) 885-4037 or craska@uidaho.edu.
 

Website: http://www.uidaho.edu

Published: June 20, 2014