MANHATTAN, KANSAS, US — Kansas State University has announced a new hard red winter wheat (HRW) variety ready for official release: KS13DH0041-35.

K-State wheat breeder Dr. Allan Fritz said this yet-to-be-named variety arrived through the university’s wheat breeding program after an inadvertent chemical application from which this new line survived, revealing its durability and potential.

In 2014, the soybeans planted ahead of the wheat trials in Ashland, Kansas, US, were sprayed with what was supposed to be a routine herbicide, but the chemical was contaminated, severely damaging wheat production and costing about half the breeding program at that location in 2015.

With just 47 head rows in the field from its population, a doubled haploid line survived the chemical application. Fritz kept just three of those 47 head rows from that population in addition to other material from the Ashland location to advance through the K-State breeding program. The new line then won the K-State breeding program’s elite trial by three to five bushels per acre for three straight years.

Tested against commercial varieties over three years, KS13DH0041-35 has shown higher average yield potential, beating the Zenda variety by 10 bushels per acre over the past two years and the Bob Dole variety by seven bushels per acre.

KS13DH0041-35 is a taller variety with excellent straw strength. The line also has excellent leaf rust resistance, good resistance to tan spot and intermediate resistance to fusarium head blight and stripe rust. The farinograph stability is less than the target, but it has maintained good loaf volumes and holds its protein content well.

It also has performed well in a multitude of crop rotations and management styles, including planting after soybeans as well as after corn and in both conventional and no-till programs. The line is only intermediate on acid soils, so it is not a good fit for low pH soil.