Registration of ‘Vida’ Wheat

‘Vida’ (Reg. no. CV-996, PI 642366) is a hard red spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) developed by the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station and released in 2006. Vida is targeted for production in dryland areas of Montana. Vida was derived from an F4 plant selection from the cross ‘Scholar’ (Lanning et al., 2000)/‘Reeder’ (PI 613586). Scholar is a normal height cultivar with semisolid stems and good dryland yield potential. Reeder is a semidwarf cultivar, and is notable for maintaining green leaf color later in the summer than other wheat lines grown in Montana. Reeder has high yield potential in dryland environments. The breeding procedure for Vida included single seed descent without selection in the F2 and F3 generations, followed by subsequent selection for height, heading date, delayed flag leaf senescence, and vigor in space-planted F4 head rows. F5 head rows were evaluated for height, heading date, time of flag leaf maturity, uniformity, grain protein, and apparent yield potential. Selected rows were entered into a single row replicated yield trial at Bozeman, MT, and evaluated for grain yield, grain protein, and dough mixing properties. Superior lines from this nursery, including Vida, were entered into a replicated yield trial planted at four dryland Montana locations. The best lines from this nursery were tested with currently grown cultivars and additional experimental lines in a yield trial conducted at ten Montana locations from 2003–2005. In addition, Vida was tested in the Uniform Regional Hard Red Spring Wheat Nursery at 18 locations per year in 2004 and 2005 under the experimental number MT0245. Vida has middense and tapering heads with white awns and glumes. Glumes are acuminate and shoulders are elevated. Kernels are red, ovate, and have a medium brush. Kernels have a medium crease with rounded cheeks. Anthocyanin is absent in the coleoptile and the flag leaf is erect. Mature plant color is light tan. Vida has semisolid stems because of the presence of a major gene for stem solidness (Cook et al., 2004) on chromosome 3B. On a scale of 5 to 25, where 5 is hollow and 25 is solid, Vida has a score of 12. This compares with 7 for hollow-stemmed ‘McNeal’ (Lanning et al., 1995) and 21 for solid-stemmed Choteau (Lanning et al., 2004). Wheat stem sawfly (Cephus cinctus Nort.) resistance shown by Vida is intermediate to the Choteau and McNeal as expected, with average cutting of 59, 31, and 13%, respectively, for McNeal, Vida and Choteau based on three sawfly-infested sites. Vida is moderately susceptible to stem rust caused by Puccinia graminis Pers:Pers based on artificial inoculation in the field at Bozeman using a mixture of spores collected from natural infestations in eastern Montana. Vida is moderately resistant to stripe rust caused by Puccinia striiformis Westend. based on natural infestations at Kalispell and Huntley, MT. Vida showed moderate resistance to Septoria glume blotch (caused by Stagnonosporum nodurum Burk.) at dryland nurseries in Sidney, Havre, and Conrad in 2005. Reaction of Vida to leaf rust infection caused by Puccinia triticina Eriks. has not been observed. Vida has shown high yield potential across Montana over the past 3 yr relative to themost widely grown varietiesMcNeal and Reeder. On the basis of 30 location/years (10 locations in 2003, 2004, and 2005, respectively), Vida yielded 4468 kg ha. This is greater than McNeal (P, 0.01) and Reeder (P, 0.01), which yielded 4064 and 4261 kg ha, respectively. Vida yielded an average of 3218 kg ha under dryland conditions at Havre, Sidney, Moccasin, and Conrad from 2003–2005. This is greater than McNeal (P, 0.01) and Reeder (P, 0.05), which yielded 2936 and 3061 kg ha, respectively. Mean grain volume over all 30 locations were 759, 754, and 771 kgm for Vida,McNeal and Reeder, respectively. Mean heading date was June 24 for Vida, June 25 for McNeal, and June 22 for Reeder. Height of Vida averaged 84 cm as compared with 94 and 87 for McNeal and Reeder, respectively. Vida is similar to Reeder in terms of time of flag leaf senescence, being about 3 d later than McNeal based on yield trials at Bozeman in 2004 and 2005. Vida is resistant to lodging. Grain protein of Vida over 30 location/years averaged 147 g kg21 as compared with 149 and 150 g kg for McNeal and Reeder, respectively. Flour yield for Vida averaged 69.3 g kg as compared with 65.1 and 67 g kg for McNeal and Reeder, respectively. Water absorption was 73, 77, and 72 g kg for Vida, McNeal, and Reeder, respectively. Loaf volume was 1135, 1220, and 1118 cm for Vida, McNeal and Reeder, respectively. Breeder seed was developed by selection for uniformity among 400 head rows.Approximately 350 selected heads rows were subsequently grown as six row plots at Bozeman, and aberrant plots were discarded. Remaining plots were bulked to form breeder seed. Breeder, Foundation, Registered, and Certified classes of seed are all recognized. Breeder and foundation seed will be maintained by the Department of Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology, Montana Agricultural Experiment Station, Bozeman, MT 59717. Application will be made for U.S. Plant Variety Protection with the certification option. Contact the corresponding author for all seed requests. No seed will be distributed without written permission for 20 yr from date of publication in Crop Science by the MontanaAgricultural Experiment Station, at which time seed will also be available from the National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS).