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Introducing
WIT, the Wheat Improvement Team at May, 1998 |
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Beginning with this issue of The Inside Scoop and continuing on a quarterly basis, this column will be dedicated to delivering the most current information relevant to wheat variety development at Oklahoma State University. The combined efforts of breeding programs throughout the southern Great Plains have given Oklahoma wheat producers access to some of the best genetics in the world in the form of improved wheat varieties. Nevertheless, with this access comes the challenge of determining which combination of genetics and management has the greatest potential for a particular farm. We hope the information provided in future editions of this column will help you understand the opportunities that improved varieties provide to Oklahoma's wheat producers. The genetic improvement of any plant species, whether in a public or private setting, is an interdisciplinary effort that encompasses expertise beyond that used by the plant breeder in hybridization and selection of superior progeny. Working side-by-side with the breeder might be pathologists, entomologists, biotechnologists, agronomists, biochemists, and physiologists. The total wheat research effort at OSU is spread across dozens of faculty and six academic departments in the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. A cadre of nine faculty, who devote a substantial portion of their research to wheat genetic improvement and variety development, comprise the Wheat Improvement Team (WIT). Leading this team of researchers are wheat breeders Brett Carver and Ed Smith. Other members of WIT (and their area of expertise) include Gene Krenzer (management systems, variety performance, and information exchange), Bob Hunger (disease resistance, particularly leaf rust, barley yellow dwarf, and soil-borne mosaic), Jeanmarie Verchot (molecular genetics of virus resistance), David Porter (USDA-ARS Research Geneticist, with emphasis on aphid resistance), Arron Guenzi (gene transformation), Patricia Rayas-Duarte (biochemistry relating to grain quality), and Bjorn Martin (physiology, with emphasis on drought stress). These researchers share a common mission to develop and ensure adoption of winter wheat varieties with marketable grain quality and superior adaptation to the unique environmental conditions and production practices of Oklahoma. Although our sights are set on Oklahoma, this mission still could not be accomplished without contributions from the entire wheat research community of state, federal, and private researchers in Texas, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, and other states. The Wheat Improvement Team gratefully acknowledges the past and continued support of Oklahoma's wheat producers through the voluntary wheat check-off. This type of funding has been critical to sustaining the long-term commitment to research necessary in a variety development program, and it ensures responsiveness of our program to the collective needs of Oklahoma's wheat industry. Mr. Bill Flory, NAWG President, wrote in the February 1998 issue of The Inside Scoop that the new wheat industry vision must include partnerships across the entire industry chain so that each link in the chain reaches its maximum potential. As the researcher-grower-industry relationship forms on the national level, it must be grounded in a strong partnership on the state level. Thus, we look forward to further developing
that partnership and to open communication with you through this column. We
would be receptive to your comments and questions regarding future editions of
"WIT'S END....." as they are submitted through the Office of Executive
Director for the Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association.
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