Oveson – New Soft White Winter Wheat

Chapter 8- Crops and Varieties, No. 3, Winter 1987

Don Wysocki

Charles Rohde, STEEP researcher and wheat breeder at Oregon State University’s Columbia Basin Agricultural Research Center at Pendleton, has released a new soft white winter wheat. The new variety has been named ”Oveson” in honor of Merrill Oveson, Superintendent of the Pendleton Experiment Station from 1948-66. The variety was developed under the supervision of Rohde with cooperative assistance from research assistants Wesley Locke, Debora Nason, Chuck Crampton and Kathleen Van Wagoner.

According to Rohde, Oveson is a semi-dwarf, moderately stiff-strawed, soft white winter wheat. It was developed from crosses of Hyslop, Yayla, Cerco and a numbered Washington variety. The final cross was made in 1976 at Pendleton. About one-half acre was devoted to the production of breeder seed at Pendleton in 1986.

Rohde explains that his reason for releasing the new variety is to provide growers with another choice in cultivars. Currently a very high percentage of the winter wheat acreage in eastern Oregon is seeded to Stephens. Rohde feels that growers are in a potentially vulnerable position because a disease could cause widespread losses if Stephens were susceptible. This occurred when Omar was the dominant variety and stripe rust became a serious disease. By providing growers with another variety Rohde feels the risk of widespread losses resulting from a disease outbreak can be reduced.

You can judge the performance of Oveson in comparison to other widely used varieties from the following information. Keep in mind that Oveson, just like other varieties, will be best suited for a certain set of climatic, environmental and soil conditions. If your conditions are similar to those under which Oveson has been tested and you like the way it has performed, this variety may be an option for you.

Grain Yield

Rohde and co-workers have tested Oveson in comparison to Stephens, Hill 81 and Daws in northeastern Oregon in 1981-85. These trials were separated into three yield categories: (1) low yielding (less than 15-inch precipitation), (2) high yielding (more than 15-inch precipitation and more than 4-foot soil depth) and (3) irrigated. Under each of these conditions Oveson yielded equal to or slightly higher than the other varieties (Table 1).

Test Weight

Similar trials conducted to compare test weights between these four varieties showed that Oveson produced comparable or slightly greater weights than the other varieties (Table 2).

Table 1. Yield comparisons of four winter wheat cultivars in northeastern Oregon, 1981-85 (Rohde, OSU, Pendleton).

Table 2. Test weight comparisons of four winter wheat cultivars in northeastern Oregon (Rohde, OSU, Pendleton).

Table 3. Comparisons of average plant height, heading date, protein content, seed size and tilling capacity of four winter wheat cultivars In northeastern Oregon (Rohde, OSU, Pendleton).

Table 4. Comparison of disease resistance in Stephens and Oveson winter wheats (Rohde, OSU, Pendleton).

Plant Height

A factor that may be important in making a decision about Oveson is its height. The plant height of Oveson is equal to that of Hill 81 and 2 to 3 inches taller than Stephens or Daws (Table 3). This could be particularly important where lodging may be a problem.

Heading Date and Maturity

The heading date and consequently the date of maturity of Oveson is 4 to 5 days later than Stephens and 1 to 3 days later than Hill 81 and Daws (Table 3). This may bean important consideration if date of maturity is a critical factor.

Protein Content, Seed Size and Tillering

Differences in protein content, seed size and tillering were also observed between the cultivars (Table 3). The protein content of Oveson was slightly lower than that of Stephens or Hill 81. Oveson’s seed size was between that of Stephens and Hill 81, except under irrigation, where it tended to be heavier than Stephens. Oveson tillered more vigorously than the other varieties.

Disease Resistance

The resistance of Oveson wheat to diseases is slightly different than that of Stephens (Table 4). Oveson appears to be more resistant to Cephulosporium stripe and more susceptible to leaf rust. It is important to realize that the ratings in Table 4 are subjective and do not reveal quantitative information about the nature of the resistance in the two cultivars.

Winter Hardiness

According to Rohde, the winter hardiness of Oveson is similar to that of Stephens. He recommends that it not be used where extreme cold tolerance is required.

Summary

Oveson wheat is a soft white winter variety adapted to areas of eastern Oregon that are not extremely cold or droughty. It has yielded comparable to Stephens in trials on the Columbia Plateau of eastern Oregon. It has similar test weight, protein content, seed size and tillering ability to other commonly planted varieties. It is slightly taller than Stephens and matures slightly later. It is resistant to stripe rust and moderately tolerant to Cephalosporium stripe. Limited quantities of seed are available from the Oregon Foundation Seed and Plant Materials Project.