In 2012, UVM Extension conducted a winter heirloom variety trial. Many consumers are interested in heirloom wheat for flavor, perceived health benefits or its history, while many farmers are interested in heirloom wheat because it may have superior genetics better adapted to the challenging growing conditions in the Northeast. This variety trial was established to determine what heirloom winter wheat varieties are viable in Vermont’s growing conditions

Cummings, Erica

Darby, Heather

Harwood, Hannah

Madden, Rosalie

Monahan, Susan

English

UVM ScholarWorks

University of VermontScholarWorks @ UVMNorthwest Crops & Soils Program UVM Extension2012Heirloom Winter Wheat TrialHeather DarbyUniversity of Vermont, heather.darby@uvm.eduSusan MonahanUniversity of VermontErica CummingsUniversity of VermontHannah HarwoodUniversity of VermontRosalie MaddenUniversity of VermontFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/nwcspPart of the Agricultural Economics CommonsThis Report is brought to you for free and open access by the UVM Extension at ScholarWorks @ UVM. It has been accepted for inclusion inNorthwest Crops & Soils Program by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ UVM. For more information, please contactdonna.omalley@uvm.edu.Recommended CitationDarby, Heather; Monahan, Susan; Cummings, Erica; Harwood, Hannah; and Madden, Rosalie, "Heirloom Winter Wheat Trial"(2012). Northwest Crops & Soils Program. 262.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/nwcsp/262    2012 Heirloom Winter Wheat Trial  Dr. Heather Darby, UVM Extension Agronomist  Susan Monahan, Erica Cummings, Hannah Harwood, and Rosalie Madden UVM Extension Crops and Soils Technicians 802-524-6501  Visit us on the web: http://www.uvm.edu/extension/cropsoil      © March 2013, University of Vermont Extension  2012 HEIRLOOM WINTER WHEAT TRIAL Dr. Heather Darby, University of Vermont Extension heather.darby[at]uvm.edu  INTRODUCTION  In 2012, UVM Extension conducted a winter heirloom variety trial. Many consumers are interested in heirloom wheat for flavor, perceived health benefits or its history, while many farmers are interested in heirloom wheat because it may have superior genetics better adapted to the challenging growing conditions in the Northeast.  This variety trial was established to determine what heirloom winter wheat varieties are viable in Vermont’s growing conditions.   METHODS  In the fall of 2011, an heirloom winter wheat trial was initiated at Borderview Research Farm in Alburgh, VT. General plot management is listed in Table 1. Plots were managed with practices similar to those used by producers in the surrounding area. The previous crop was spring wheat and prior to that, the site had been in organic corn. The field was disked and spike-toothed harrowed prior to planting. Plots were seeded with a Kincaid Cone Seeder on 21-Sep 2011 at a seeding rate of 100 lbs acre-1.    Population and vigor were measured on 24-Oct 2011. Populations were determined by taking three, 1/3 meter counts per plot. Vigor was based on a visual rating with a 0–5 scale, where 5 represents excellent stand density and 0 represents no stand. On 11-Apr 2012, winter survival was measured on a 0-5 scale with the same procedure as above. Plots were top-dressed by hand on 3-May 2012 with 500 lbs acre-1 each of Pro-Booster and Pro-Gro. Pro-Booster and Pro-Gro are Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) approved fertilizers manufactured for North Country Organics in Bradford, VT. They are blended fertilizers composed of vegetable and animal meals and natural nitrate of soda. Pro-Booster has a guaranteed analysis of 10-0-0, and Pro-Gro has a guaranteed analysis of 5-3-4.  Grain plots were harvested with an Almaco SPC50 small plot combine on 19-Jul 2012. The harvest area was 5’ x 20’. Just prior to harvest, plant heights were measured, excluding awns, and the severity of lodging was recorded as a percent of plot lodged. Grain moisture, test weight and yield were determined at harvest. Seed was cleaned with a small Clipper M2B cleaner (A.T. Ferrell, Bluffton, IN) and a subsample was collected to determine quality characteristics. Samples were ground using the Perten LM3100 Laboratory Mill. Flour was analyzed for protein content using the Perten Inframatic 8600 Flour Analyzer. Most commercial mills target 12-15% protein content. Falling number was measured (AACC Method 56-81B, AACC Intl., 2000) on the Perten FN 1500 Falling Number Machine. The falling number is related to the level of sprout damage in the grain. It is determined by the time it takes, in seconds, for a stirrer to fall through a slurry of flour and water to the bottom of a test-tube. Falling numbers greater than 350 indicate low enzymatic activity and sound quality wheat. A falling number lower than 200 indicates high enzymatic activity and poor quality wheat. Deoxynivalenol (DON), a vomotoxin, was analyzed using Veratox DON 5/5 Quantitative test from the NEOGEN Corp. This test has a detection range of 0.5 to 5 ppm. Samples with DON values greater than 1 ppm are considered unsuitable for human consumption. The varieties of heirloom winter wheat grown are listed in Table 2.  Results were analyzed with an analysis of variance in SAS (Cary, NC). The Least Significant Difference (LSD) procedure was used to separate cultivar means when the F-test was significant (p< 0.10).        Table 1. General plot management. Trial Information Borderview Research Farm Alburgh, VT Soil Type Benson rocky silt loam Previous crop Spring Wheat Planting date 21-Sep 2011 Harvest date 19-Jul 2012 Seeding rate 100 lbs acre-1 Tillage methods Mold board plow, disk and spike-toothed harrow Fertilizer applied 3-May 2012 Pro-Booster and Pro-Gro (1000 lbs acre-1)          Table 2. Heirloom winter wheat varieties, market class, year of release and place of origin.  Variety Market Class Year Origin Blackhull HRWW 1917 Kansas Bluejacket HRWW 1946 Kansas Clark's Cream HWWW 1972 Kansas Columbia HRWW 1955 Oregon Coppei SRWW 1911 Washington Forward SRWW 1920 New York Genesee Giant SWWW 1893 New York Goldcoin SWWW 1890 New York Honor SWWW 1920 New York Kanred HRWW 1917 Kansas Oro HRWW 1927 Oregon Pride of Genesee SRWW 1893 New York Red Chief SRWW 1901 New York Red Russian SRWW 1890 England Relief HRWW 1931 Utah Rio HRWW 1931 Oregon Triplet SRWW 1918 Washington Wasatch HRWW 1944 Utah HRWW-Hard Red Winter Wheat, HWWW-Hard White Winter Wheat,  SRWW-Soft Red Winter Wheat, SWWW-Soft White Winter Wheat.        LEAST SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE (LSD)  Variations in yield and quality can occur because of variations in genetics, soil, weather and other growing conditions.  Statistical analysis makes it possible to determine whether a difference among varieties is real, or whether it might have occurred due to other variations in the field.  At the bottom of each table, a LSD value is presented for each variable (i.e. yield).  Least Significant differences (LSD’s) at the 10% level of probability are shown. Where the difference between two treatments within a column is equal to or greater than the LSD value at the bottom of the column, you can be sure in 9 out of 10 chances that there is a real difference between the two varieties. Treatments that were not significantly lower in performance than the highest value in a particular column are indicated with an asterisk.  In the example below, A is significantly different from C but not from B. The difference between A and B is equal to 1.5, which is less than the LSD value of 2.0. This means that these varieties did not differ in yield. The difference between A and C is equal to 3.0, which is greater than the LSD value of 2.0. This means that the yields of these varieties were significantly different from one another.  The asterisk indicates that B was not significantly lower than the top yielding variety.  Variety Yield A 6.0 B 7.5* C 9.0* LSD 2.0   RESULTS AND DISCUSSION  Seasonal precipitation and temperature recorded at a weather station in Alburgh, VT are shown in Table 3. The 2011-2012 winter was extremely mild, with temperatures well above normal each month.  Spring green-up occurred in mid March with a week of record warm temperatures and a high of 77.5oF on 21-Mar. The growing season was also warmer and drier than normal. From March to July, there was an accumulation of 3878 Growing Degree Days (GDDs), in Alburgh which is 400 GDDs higher than the 30-year average.    Table 3. Seasonal weather data collected in Alburgh, VT, 2012.   Based on weather data from Davis Instruments Vantage pro2 with Weatherlink data logger.                                                                                                                             Historical averages for 30 years of NOAA data (1981-2010).  * Precipitation data from June-September 2012 is based on Northeast Regional Climate Center data from an observation station in Burlington, VT.   The highest yielding variety was Forward, which yielded almost 2 tons or 3868 lbs acre-1 (Table 5).  The four highest yielding varieties were soft wheat’s developed in New York State.  Soft wheat’s are generally lower in protein and better suited for pastries and cookies.  The highest yielding hard wheat, which is generally desired for bread baking, was Bluejacket, which yielded 2422 lbs acre-1.  Bluejacket was developed in Kansas in 1946.  Although not an heirloom by the strict definition of being developed before 1950, Clark’s Cream was included in this study because it is an older hard white wheat which is of interest to the farming community. Oro had the lowest yields (813 lbs acre-1), which may be due in part to it’s low winter survival—32% of the plot had winterkilled when measured on 11-Apr (Table 4).    Of the five tallest varieties, three were developed in New York.  Honor grew the tallest at 52.4 inches (Table 4).  In organic systems, tall wheat’s are generally desired for their ability to shade out competing weeds.  All of the varieties grown in this study would be considered tall when compared to many of today’s modern cultivars. Tall wheat can be prone to lodging, depending on many factors including stalk strength and over-fertilization.  In general, all the varieties stood up well, with the exception of Triplet and Relief, which had 37% and 26% lodging at harvest.     Test weight is the measure of grain density determined by weighing a known volume of grain. Generally, the heavier the wheat is per bushel, the higher baking quality.  Red Chief and Bluejacket had test weights over 60 lbs bushel-1 and were significantly higher than the other varieties.     Alburgh, VT Sept. 2011 Oct. 2011 Nov. 2011 Mar. 2012 Apr. 2012 May 2012 June 2012 July 2012Average Temperature (F) 62.8 50.1 43.4 39.7 44.9 60.5 67.0 71.4Departure from Normal 2.20 1.90 5.20 8.60 0.10 4.10 1.20 0.80Precipitation (inches) * 5.56 3.52 1.41 1.46 2.64 3.90 3.22 3.78Departure from Normal 1.92 -0.08 -1.71 -0.75 -0.18 0.45 -0.47 -0.37Growing Degree Days (base 32) 932 578 344 331 396 884 1046 1221Departure from Normal 74.0 76.0 142 205 12.0 128 32.0 23.0 Table 4. Growing characteristics of heirloom winter wheat varieties, Alburgh, VT, 2012. Variety Population Fall vigor Spring vigor Winterkill Height Lodging   plants m2 (0-5) (0-5)  % in  % Blackhull 223 3.3 3.2* 0.0 43.7 0.0* Bluejacket 241 3.2 3.3* 3.3 47.3 0.0* Clark's Cream 201 3.5 3.5* 1.7 40.3 6.0* Colombia 206 2.3 2.7 3.3 42.5 6.7* Coppei 214 3.5 3.5* 1.7 43.5 1.7* Forward 234 4.0 3.5* 0.0 46.0 4.3* Gen. Giant 232 4.7* 3.7* 0.0 45.6 0.7* Gold Coin 282* 4.5* 3.8* 5.0 48.5* 4.0* Honor 302* 3.8 3.3* 0.0 52.4* 0.3* Kanred 210 3.5 3.5* 5.0 39.1 10.0* Oro 197 2.3 2.5 31.7 46.3 6.0* Pride of Gen. 221 4.3* 3.8* 0.0 49.3* 1.7* Red Chief 258* 3.5 3.7* 1.7 43.4 0.0* Red Russian 195 3.2 2.7 16.7 50.3* 0.0* Relief 221 3.0 3.2* 15.0 42.2 25.7 Rio 214 2.8 3.5* 0.0 43.9 11.7* Triplet 173 3.0 3.2* 0.0 50.9* 36.7 Wasatch 175 2.7 3.8* 0.0 47.2 1.7* Trial mean 222 3.4 3.4 4.7 45.7 6.5 LSD (p<0.1) 44.4 0.58  0.72  NS 4.67   15.7 *Varieties with an asterisk are not significantly different than the top performer in bold.  NS – No significant difference amongst varieties.   Table 5. Yield and quality of heirloom winter wheat, Alburgh, VT, 2012. Variety Moisture Test weight DM    Yield Protein @ DM Protein @ 14%  Falling number DON   % lbs bushel-1 lbs acre-1 %  %  sec ppm Blackhull 13.7 58.3 1901 13.0 11.2 433* 0.4 Bluejacket 14.9 60.7* 2422 13.1 11.3 469* 0.5 Clark's Cream 14.4 58.3 2374 12.4 10.7 435* 0.5 Colombia 11.5* 56.3 1735 11.8 10.2 436* 0.7 Coppei 12.3* 57.0 1947 12.6 10.9 374 0.5 Forward 12.5* 58.3 3868* 11.0 9.4 378 0.4 Gen. Giant 11.9* 56.0 2611 11.2 9.6 364 0.3 Gold Coin 12.5* 56.7 2862 12.0 10.3 327 0.4 Honor 11.1* 54.5 2635 11.6 10.0 375 0.5 Kanred 12.8 55.7 1851 12.8 11.0 445* 0.7 Oro 15.3 57.0 813 14.3* 12.3* 421 0.8 Pride of Gen. 11.5* 59.7 2309 11.8 10.1 424 0.5 Red Chief 13.6 61.8* 1438 13.9* 12.0* 444* 0.2 Red Russian 13.0 55.0 1597 14.1* 12.1* 395 0.6 Relief 15.2 57.7 2229 13.3 11.4 444* 0.6 Rio 12.0* 57.5 2084 12.5 10.8 450* 0.3 Triplet 12.4* 59.2 2073 13.6 11.7 423 0.5 Wasatch 13.5 58.7 2211 14.6* 12.5* 443* 0.6 Trial mean 13.0 57.7 2164 12.7 11.0 416 0.5 LSD (p<0.1) 1.55  2.04  498 0.923 0.794   40.1 NS *Varieties with an asterisk are not significantly different than the top performer in bold.  NS – No significant difference amongst varieties.      Figure 1. Yield and protein of heirloom winter wheat varieties, Alburgh, VT, 2012. Varieties with an asterisk are the top performer and not significantly different from one another.    Of the four varieties with the highest protein content, three were the lowest yielders (Figure 1).  There is often an inverse relationship seen between yield and protein.  Wasatch, however, yielded in the middle of the pack, but had the highest protein content, 12.5%.  Falling numbers for all varieties were over 350 seconds, indicating low enzymatic activity and sound quality wheat. Additionally, DON levels for all varieties were below the FDA threshold of 1ppm and considered safe for human consumption.    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS  The UVM Extension Northwest Crops and Soils Team would like to thank the 1772 Foundation for funding this research. Special thanks to Roger Rainville and the staff at Borderview Research Farm, Katie Blair, Conner Burke, Chantel Cline, and Savanna Kittell-Mitchell for their assistance with this trial. This information is presented with the understanding that no product discrimination is intended and neither endorsement of any product mentioned, nor criticism of unnamed products, is implied.   UVM Extension helps individuals and communities put research-based knowledge to work.                                                                       Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture. University of Vermont Extension, Burlington, Vermont, University of Vermont Extension, and U.S. Department of Agriculture, cooperating, offer education and employment to everyone without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or familial status.   * * * * * 0.02.04.06.08.010.012.014.0050010001500200025003000350040004500Crude Protein at 14% moisture (%) Yield at 13.5% moisture (lbs/acre) Heirloom Winter Wheat Varieties Yield Protein

Heirloom Winter Wheat Trial

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Heirloom Winter Wheat Trial

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