Decade Winterwheat

County Agent News

Dan Folske

July 12, 2010

Decade Winterwheat

A new winterwheat named Decade may be released to county crop improvement associations this fall. Decade is a potential replacement for Jerry and other winter wheat varieties.  It appears to have good winter hardiness and adaptation to western ND. 

Decade is an awned, white-glumed, semi-dwarf hard red winter wheat with medium-early maturity. It has a high level of winter hardiness and is resistant to stem and stripe rust but susceptible to leaf rust. 

In western North Dakota and eastern Montana where this line appears to be best adapted, Decade was the highest yielding line compared to seven adapted cultivars. Performance of Decade in central and eastern North Dakota over five trials was average but not outstanding. For comparison purposes, Decade appears to be most similar to CDC Falcon with reduced plant height and relatively high cold tolerance. Decade and CDC Falcon are similar for grain yield in both Montana and North Dakota. 

Burke County seed producers who may interested in increasing “Decade HRWW”

under contract should contact me at the Burke County Extension Office. 

“Decade HRWW” is currently being increased at the Williston REC for the production of Foundation seed. Interested producers should remember that the harvest, cleaning, and seeding turn around time is very short for winterwheat. 

Soil Health

      Soil is not just dirt! While primarily composed of mineral matter soil has a very important portion of organic matter. This organic matter is made up of both living (fungi, protozoa, bacteria, etc) and non-living (plant residue). While the non organic part of the soil may seem to function on simple chemistry to make nutrients available to crops it is not really simple at all. Crop nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, chloride, zinc, and iron can often be tied up through the chemistry of the soil particles. In a healthy living soil the micro fauna work alongside the macrofauna (earthworms, millipedes, beetles, etc) to create an environment which is highly interactive and nutrients are changed into forms which are available to plants. 

I’m writing this column from the National Association of County Agricultural Agents professional improvement conference in Tulsa Oklahoma where I’ll be attending workshops relating to soil health, environmental stewardship, range management, and cropping systems. The weather here is similar to what we’ve had at home recently, thunderstorms, above normal rainfall, and high humidity