N.D. Agricultural Experiment Station Releases New Crop Varieties

Dec 09, 2020

The North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station has released new chickpea, field pea, soybean, wheat, oat and black bean varieties.

The new crop varieties were ND Crown chickpeas, ND Dawn yellow field peas, ND Dickey soybeans, ND Frohberg hard red spring wheat, ND Heart oats, ND Noreen winter wheat and ND Twilight black beans. The North Dakota County Seed Increase Program distributed ND Dawn, ND Dickey and ND Heart for the first time in the spring of 2020 and ND Noreen in the fall of 2020.

To ensure genetic purity, all varieties are protected under Plant Variety Protection Title V and must be sold as a class of certified seed. All varieties, except for ND Twilight, are licensed to the North Dakota Crop Improvement and Seed Association (NDCISA) for their management and distribution.

Here is a look at the new varieties:

ND Crown Chickpeas

ND Crown was developed by the pulse breeding program at North Dakota State University under the direction of breeder Nonoy Bandillo. ND Crown is a Kabuli type chickpea and has high yield potential in North Dakota environments. The average height of ND Crown is 26.4 inches and the average maturity date is 115 days from planting.

ND Crown chickpeas (NDSU photo)

The 1,000-seed weight of ND Crown is 396 grams. ND Crown has a similar response to Ascochyta blight under moderate to high disease pressure when compared with commercial cultivars.

ND Crown is ideal for whole seed and processed markets, such as hummus, because of its larger seed size compared with commonly grown cultivars. This new variety flowers and matures one day earlier than CDC Frontier with similar seed yield.

General Characteristics:

High yield potential
Large seed size
Similar reaction to Ascochyta blight as commercial cultivars

ND Dawn field peas (NDSU photo)

ND Dawn Yellow Field Peas

ND Dawn was developed by the pulse breeding program at NDSU under Bandillo’s direction. ND Dawn large yellow field peas have high yield potential in North Dakota environments and excellent agronomic performance. ND Dawn has a uniform, round seed comparable to DS Admiral, which makes it stand out from other varieties.

Total protein content has been tested at 24%, which is similar to commercial cultivars. ND Dawn matures in approximately 95 days, which is early and favorable for North Dakota growing conditions. ND Dawn is tolerant to lodging and has a good plant stand. It is about 3 centimeters (cm) shorter than Agassiz and 10 cm taller than CDC Striker.

ND Dawn has seed size similar to Navarro and a bit larger than Agassiz and LG Sunrise. ND Dawn has a similar response to Fusarium root rot as Agassiz. ND Dawn’s Ascochyta blight infection was more severe than in Agassiz; however, yield was not significantly different.

General Characteristics:

High yield potential
Early maturity
Uniform, round seed
Good protein content

ND Dickey soybeans (NDSU photo)

ND Dickey Soybeans

ND Dickey was developed by the soybean breeding program at NDSU under the direction of breeder Ted Helms. ND Dickey is a conventional (not resistant to glyphosate herbicide) soybean variety with 0.7 maturity that is intended to replace ND Stutsman. This new variety has high yield potential and resistance to Race 3 of phytophthora root rot.

ND Dickey has good iron-deficiency chlorosis (IDC) and lodging tolerance. It has purple flowers, gray pubescence tan pods, yellow hila and dull seed coat luster. ND Dickey is sensitive to the herbicide metribuzin.

Development of this variety was made possible through funds provided by the North Dakota Soybean Council.

General Characteristics:

7 maturity
High yield potential
Good IDC tolerance
Phytophthora root rot resistance (race 3)

ND Twilight black beans (NDSU photo)

ND Twilight Black Beans

ND Twilight was developed by the dry bean breeding program at NDSU under the direction of breeder Juan Osorno. ND Twilight has shown competitive agronomic performance compared with other varieties commonly grown in North Dakota. It has an upright indeterminate (short vine) growth habit and purple flowers, and matures in approximately 99 days.

ND Twilight had higher seed yield compared with other black bean cultivars commonly grown in the region. It is resistant to rust (race 20-3) and intermediately resistant to common bacterial blight (CBB). ND Twilight also is resistant to bean common mosaic virus and moderately resistant to soybean cyst nematode. Canning quality and seed shape/size are within acceptable commercial ranges.

General Characteristics:

Resistance to rust
Competitive seed yield
Intermediate resistance to CBB
Excellent upright architecture

Development of this variety was made possible through checkoff funds provided by the Northarvest Bean Growers Association and North Dakota Dry Edible Bean Seed Growers Association.

ND Frohberg hard red spring wheat (NDSU photo)

ND Frohberg Hard Red Spring Wheat

ND Frohberg was developed by the spring wheat breeding program at NDSU under the direction of breeder Andrew Green. ND Frohberg has good yield potential, strong end-use quality and very good disease resistance. It is medium tall, similar to Barlow, with good straw strength most similar to Glenn.

ND Frohberg has good yield potential, similar to SY Ingmar in western locations and Barlow in eastern locations. It has above-average levels of resistance to bacterial leaf streak and is moderately resistant to leaf rust. Resistance to Fusarium head blight is similar to Barlow and Elgin-ND. ND Frohberg also has strong milling and baking quality.

General Characteristics:

Good yield potential
Very good disease resistance
Strong end-use quality

ND Heart oats (NDSU photo)

ND Heart Oats

ND Heart was developed by the oat breeding program at NDSU under the direction of breeder Mike McMullen. ND Heart is a conventional oat line with exceptionally high groat beta glucan and protein concentration. These qualities should allow the production of specialty oat products with unique beneficial nutritional characteristics.

ND Heart produces about 25% greater beta glucan concentration and 20% greater groat protein concentration than commonly grown oat cultivars. The grain yield, test weight and milling yield of ND Heart are similar to other popular oat cultivars. ND Heart’s disease resistance is similar to Hi-Fi with susceptibility to crown rust.

General Characteristics:

High groat beta glucan
High protein

ND Noreen hard red winter wheat (NDSU photo)

ND Noreen Hard Red Winter Wheat

ND Noreen was developed by the winter wheat breeding program at NDSU under the direction of breeder Francois Marais. ND Noreen hard red winter wheat is intended to replace Jerry. ND Noreen has higher yield potential than Jerry, with similar winter-hardiness, height, maturity and quality. It has shown excellent bacterial leaf streak resistance and intermediate resistance to stripe rust.

ND Noreen has better stem rust resistance than Jerry and comparable leaf rust resistance. ND Noreen performed well in eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota and has good lodging resistance. ND Noreen has average protein, high test weight, satisfactory milling extraction, and average mixing tolerance and loaf volume.

General Characteristics: