
USDA Research Yields New Wheat Variety to
Help Farmers Fight ScabBy Don Comis May 18, 1999WASHINGTON, May 21--A new variety of wheat developed by
USDA researchers will help farmers in the
Northern Great Plains slow the spread of wheat scab, a costly fungal disease,
Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman announced today. "USDA's intensified research efforts are helping American farmers fight
wheat scab," Glickman said. "This new wheat variety, our most
scab-tolerant ever, will be available to farmers for the spring 2000 planting
season, preventing more damage by this costly disease." Scab losses cost American wheat growers more than $2.6 billion between 1991
and 1997. Scab, or Fusarium head blight, shrivels kernels of wheat and
other cereal grain crops such as barley. The disease also produces toxins that
can make crops unsuitable for flour, cereal, some malt, and animal feed. Many
growers discovered the problem only after harvesting wheat kernels that were
empty shells. The new variety, McVey hard red spring wheat, slows the spread of the
disease in the seedhead so fewer kernels are destroyed. It is the first product
to emerge from USDA's accelerated research efforts in response to the scab
epidemic. This year, USDA increased its annual research spending on scab by $3
million. The new funding to USDA Agricultural
Research Service and university researchers builds on the $500,000 per year
that USDA has allocated each year since 1997. The researchers are part of the
U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative, a
consortium of 20 state universities supported by many wheat- and barley-related
organizations and individuals. Minnesota farmer Tom Anderson and
Michigan State University breeder Rick Ward
are co-chairs of the scab consortium. The new variety is named for Donald V. McVey, a plant pathologist at the
USDA's Cereal Disease Laboratory in St.
Paul, Minn. Its development was funded in part by the Minnesota Wheat Research
and Promotion Council, Red Lake Falls, Minn., through money collected from
wheat farmers. The Minnesota
Crop Improvement Association, based in St. Paul, is distributing seed to
certified seed growers. A comprehensive story on ARS scab research around the country, including
development of McVey, will appear in the June issue of ARS' Agricultural
Research magazine. Scientific contact: Robert H. Busch, ARS
Plant Science Research
Unit, St. Paul, Minn., phone (612) 625-1975, fax (651) 649-5058,
[email protected]. Story contacts Plant Science Research Plant Science Research U.S. Department of Agriculture | |