Phil Bruckner and Jim Berg, Winter Wheat Breeding Program
Updated 12/2018

Downloadable version

 

Ray is a hard red winter head developed by the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station and available to certified seed growers in fall 2018. Ray is a late maturing, tall, awnless line developed for forage production as a possible replacement (or supplement to) Willow Creek (MT, 2005). Compared to Willow Creek, Ray has similar forage yield and forage quality, but superior seed yield (Table 1). Compared to conventional bread wheats; Ray has average to above average yield, below average test weight, and average protein (Table 2, 3). Ray is resistant to stripe rust and susceptible to stem rust. Ray has low PPO and average milling and baking characteristics (Table 4). PVP Title V will be applied for.

 

Table 1. Agronomic Characteristics of Ray vs. a Set of Winter Cereals Forage Lines (2014-2017)

Variety
Field Analysis
Forage Analysis (dry)
Grain yield (lb/a)
Test weight (lb/bu)
Heading date
Plant height (in)
Dry matter (ton/a)
Protein (%)
ADF (%)
NDF (%)
TDN (%)
Julian
Calendar
Location years 9 9 15   16 20 6 6 6 5
Trical 102
 2976 49.4 161.8 11-Jun 52.2 4.04 11.4 32.8 63.8 65.2
Ray
 3896 58.7 164.5 14-Jun 35.6 3.45 11.2 31.5 60.7 66.7
MTF1435
 3220 59.0 162.7 12-Jun 39.4 3.54 11.6 32.3 62.4 65.8
Willow Creek
 2383 59.7 168.3 17-Jun 43.8 3.37 11.4 33.0 62.6 64.9
LSD (0.05) 388 1.1 0.9   2.4 0.31 ns ns ns ns
  • bold-italics indicates highest value within a column
  • bold indicates varieties with values equal to highest variety within a column based on Fisher's Protected LSD (p = 0.05)
  • ns indicates non-significant

 

Table 2. Grain Yield of Ray vs. a Set of Varieties (2017-2018)1/

Variety
Districts
All Locations
1
2
3
4
5
5
6
Kalispell
Bozeman
Huntley2/
Moccasin3/
Conrad4/
Havre5/
Sidney & Williston
Location years 1 1 11 9 9 6 2 39
Keldin
 101.3 144.6 90.3 63.5 69.8 47.4 68.7 73.3
SY Monument
 84.1 136.7 85.0 64.3 66.7 47.5 61.2 70.3
Northern
 78.2 147.8 83.6 59.6 65.8 48.8 64.6 69.1
Yellowstone
 83.2 137.3 81.9 59.9 66.9 48.1 59.8 68.5
FourOsix
 92.4 134.4 82.0 60.8 64.7 45.0 57.4 67.8
SY Wolf
 71.5 117.2 83.9 62.1 64.2 44.7 57.4 67.4
Ray
 97.2 138.2 78.6 61.2 64.9 45.2 56.8 67.2
Decade
 48.4 129.3 80.0 61.3 60.7 46.5 58.9 65.5
MTF1435
 79.8 117.8 66.6 54.7 59.5 44.1 46.2 59.3
LSD (0.05 19.2 11.6 7.5 4.7 4.4 ns ns 3.1
  • bold-italics indicates highest value within a column
  • bold indicates varieties with values equal to highest variety within a column based on Fisher's Protected LSD (p = 0.05)
  • ns indicates non-significant
  • 1/ 2018 intrastate and 2017-2018 off station tests
  • 2/ includes data from Billings, Fort Smith, Hardin area, Hysham, Molt, Rapleje
  • 3/includes data from Belt, Denton, Geraldine, Highwood, Winifred
  • 4/ includes data from Choteau, Cut Bank, The Knees, Shelby
  • 5/ includes data from Carter, Loma, Turner

 

Table 3. Agronomic Characteristics of Ray vs. a Set of Varieties (2017-2018)1/

Variety
Test weigh (lb/bu)
Winter survival (%)
Heading date
Plant height (in)
Lodging (%)
Protein (%)
Sawfly cutting (%)
Stripe rust (%)
Coleoptile length (in)
Julian
Calendar
Location years 39 1 11   38 6 39 9 2 1
Decade
 60.9 69 158.9 8-Jun 29.5 27 13.0 41 74 2.9
FourOsix
 61.0 48 159.5 9-Jun 28.4 32 12.6 52 6 2.8
Keldin
 61.5 57 160.1 9-Jun 29.2 37 12.4 48 41 2.8
MTF1435
 59.7 45 162.7 12-Jun 36.3 46 12.7 44 14 3.4
Northern
 60.7 49 162.3 11-Jun 29.2 34 12.9 46 8 2.6
Ray
 58.6 44 163.9 13-Jun 34.2 46 12.6 49 11 2.9
SY Monument
 60.4 60 157.5 7-Jun 28.0 30 11.8 47 4 3.1
SY Wolf
 62.1 51 156.5 6-Jun 27.7 35 12.6 35 21 3.1
Yellowstone
 60.1 62 162.0 11-Jun 30.5 34 12.5 52 - 2.7
LSD (0.05) 0.4 12 0.9   0.7 ns 0.2 ns 23 0.2
  • bold-italics indicates highest value within a column
  • bold indicates varieties with values equal to highest variety within a column based on Fisher's Protected LSD (p = 0.05)
  • ns indicates non-significant
  • 1/ 2018 intrastate and 2017-2018 off station tests

 

Table 4. Mill and Bake Characteristics of Ray vs. a Set of Varieties (2014-2016)

Variety
PPO1/
Kernel hardness
Flour
Mixograph
Baking
Yield (%)
Protein (%)
Ash (%)
Tolerance (1-6)
Mix time (min)
Absorption (%)
Mix time (min)
Absorption (%)
Volume (cc)
Location years 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
Decade
 0.259 74.7 69.9 11.6 0.40 4.5 8.2 65.8 21.7 76.0 1038
MTF1435
 0.079 81.0 71.2 11.5 0.41 3.6 5.3 63.5 8.6 73.2 1053
Ray
 0.140 81.6 71.9 11.5 0.41 4.1 9.3 64.3 20.0 75.1 1041
Yellowstone
 0.200 79.6 70.1 11.4 0.41 3.8 7.7 64.1 14.5 74.9 1069
LSD (0.05) 0.051 2.7 0.7 ns ns 0.5 2.1 1.5 4.5 1.7 ns
  • bold-italics indicates highest value within a column
  • bold indicates varieties with values equal to highest variety within a column based on Fisher's Protected LSD (p = 0.05)
  • ns indicates non-significant
  • 1/ polyphenol oxidase, low is best for noodles