Written by Tom Allen-Stevens
Slug-resistant wheat may be one the gems lying pre-breeding plots, and there are opportunities for growers to get involved. CPM brings together some of the highlights from field trials. If it truly resists slugs, that will be a very valuable trait. By Tom Allen-Stevens Farmers are being given the opportunity to grow a wheat variety scientists believe may be resistant to slugs. “We decided to screen some of the novel Watkins material for slug resistance as this was identified as a priority,” says Prof Simon Griffiths of JIC who leads one of the DFW work packages. JIC entomologists set up feeding experiments – a set of choice chambers that allows slugs to choose at random varieties they would like to graze and those they prefer to avoid. “One wheat was consistently spurned – Watkins 788,” he reports. This was taken into small plot field trials in 2015/16 and the results confirmed the initial findings. But the research hasn’t progressed any further. “We don’t know yet whether this wheat truly resists slugs or whether they’d still eat it in a field situation where there’s no other choice.” So larger, field-scale plots are needed, which is where grower involvement comes in. “We’re…
The post Future wheats – Growing opportunities for next gen wheats appeared first on cpm magazine.
Continue reading on CPM website...
If you are enjoying what you read then why not considering subscribing:
