Fort Collins, Colorado
August 8, 2007
A new high-yielding and stress
tolerant variety of hard red winter wheat developed by the
Colorado State University
Agricultural Experiment Station has been released to seed
producers in Colorado. Named "Bill Brown" as tribute a longtime
Colorado State professor and Extension plant pathologist who
passed away in 2003, the new variety has shown high yields in
Colorado and excellent defense from both leaf and stripe rust.
Dr. William "Bill" M. Brown, who joined Colorado State in 1980,
devoted his career to the improvement and management of disease
of wheat and other grain crops, including leaf and stripe rusts.
He was a charismatic and upbeat individual and an
internationally recognized and highly respected researcher,
according to his colleagues. Among several other leadership
positions, Brown served as an international extension
coordinator and faculty advisor for the Peace Corps. He also had
a witty sense of humor and an affinity for jazz. The
annually-awarded William E. Brown Jr. Memorial Scholarship was
established in 2003.
"Bill was the kind of person that could fill up a room and make
everyone happy," said Tom Holtzer, head of Colorado State's
Department of Bioagricultural and Sciences and Pest Management.
"He was a tremendous researcher and an excellent, engaging
teacher."
In several years of field testing throughout eastern Colorado,
the Bill Brown wheat variety has shown exceptional yield under
both non-irrigated and irrigated conditions, very high test
weights, and good milling and baking qualities, said Colorado
State wheat breeder Scott Haley. Haley leads a team of
researchers, including Extension entomologist Frank Peairs and
Extension agronomist Jerry Johnson, which focus on improving
wheat varieties for Colorado's farmers.
"Bill Brown has been a top-yielder over a three-year average in
the dryland trials, essentially equivalent to the high-yielding
variety Hatcher," Haley said. "That included two very
drought-stressed years in 2005 and 2006. Bill Brown has also
topped our irrigated trials and has the potential to be the
standard for irrigated wheat growers."
It took 10 years to develop Bill Brown, Haley said, with the
first cross-breeding taking place in 1997. Colorado State's
wheat breeding program has established itself as a dependable
developer of new, productive wheat varieties for Colorado
growers. In 2007, about half of all wheat acreage in Colorado
was planted to varieties developed by Colorado State.
In an agreement between Colorado State, the
Colorado Wheat Research Foundation (CWRF), and the
Colorado
Seed Growers Association, ownership and marketing rights of
Bill Brown will be offered to the CWRF. Bill Brown may be grown
and sold only as a class of certified seed by Colorado Seed
Growers Association members licensed by the Colorado Wheat
Research Foundation. The foundation will obtain a certificate of
plant variety protection for these new varieties under the
federal Plant Variety Protection Act. Royalties paid to the
foundation by certified seed growers from the sale of these
varieties is returned to Colorado State to support continued
wheat research and variety development.
Fact sheet:
http://newsinfo.colostate.edu/news/485890330/misc/billbrown.pdf
CSU wheat and genetics program:
http://wheat.colostate.edu/ |
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