Registration of ‘Hallam’ Wheat

Authors

P. Stephen Baenziger, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
B. Beecher, USDA-ARS
Robert A. Graybosch, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
D. D. Baltensperger, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Lenis Alton Nelson, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Y. Jin, University of MinnesotaFollow
J. E. Watkins, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
J. H. Hatchett, USDA-ARS
Ming-Shun Chen, USDA-ARSFollow
Guihua Bai, Kansas State UniversityFollow

Date of this Version

2006

Citation

Crop Science, Vol. 46, March–April 2006; doi:10.2135/cropsci2005.05-0045

Abstract

‘Hallam’ (Reg. no. CV-983, PI 638790) is a hard red winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivar developed cooperatively by the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station and the USDA-ARS and released in 2005 by the developing institutions. Hallam was released primarily for its superior adaptation to rainfed wheat production systems in eastern Nebraska. The name Hallam was chosen to honor Hallam, NE, a town and its people rebuilding after a tornado.

Hallam was selected from the cross ‘Brule’ (Schmidt et al., 1983)/‘Bennett’ (Schmidt et al., 1981)//‘Niobrara’ (Baenziger et al., 1996) that was made in 1992. The F₁ generation was grown in the greenhouse and the F₂ to F₃ generations were advanced using the bulk breeding method in the field at Mead, NE. In 1995, single F_3:4 rows were planted for selection. Hallam was selected in the F₄ and there was no further selection thereafter.

Hallam was evaluated as NE98471 in Nebraska yield nurseries starting in 1999, in the Northern Regional Performance Nursery in 2001 and 2002, and in Nebraska cultivar performance trials from 2002 to 2004. In the Nebraska cultivar performance trials, it was narrowly adapted and performs best in eastern Nebraska. The average Nebraska rainfed yield of Hallam of 4110 kg ha^-1 (41 environments from 2002 to 2004) was greater than the yields of ‘Wahoo’ (4030 kg ha^-1; Baenziger et al., 2002), ‘Alliance’ (3880 kg ha^-1; Baenziger et al., 1995), and ‘Harry’ (4000 kg ha^-1; Baenziger et al., 2004b), but was lower than ‘Millennium’ (4180 kg ha^-1; Baenziger et al., 2001) and ‘Wesley’ (4210 kg ha^-1; Peterson et al., 2001). In its primary area of adaptation (eastern Nebraska), Hallam has yielded 4540 kg ha^-1 (five environments), which was greater than Wesley (4150 kg ha^-1), Millennium (4250 kg ha^-1), Wahoo (3940 kg ha^-1), and Alliance (3900 kg ha21). In the Northern Regional Performance Nursery, Hallam ranked 14th of 30 in 2001 (12 environments) and fourth of 25 entries in 2002 (13 environments) and averaged 100 kg ha^-1 more grain yield than ‘Nekota’ (Haley et al., 1996). Hallam is not recommended for use in irrigated production systems where other wheat cultivars with superior performance, especially with better straw strength (described below), would be recommended.

Other measurements of performance from comparison trials show that Hallam is moderately early in maturity (142 d after January 1, five environments), about 2.5 d and 1.2 d earlier flowering than Millennium and Wesley, respectively. Hallam is a semidwarf wheat cultivar. Hallam has a medium short coleoptile (46 mm), as expected for a semidwarf wheat cultivar, and is shorter than ‘Goodstreak’ (61 mm; Baenziger et al., 2004a) and slightly longer than semidwarf wheat cultivars such as Harry (36 mm). The mature plant height of Hallam (86 cm) is 3 cm shorter than Millennium and 6 cm taller than Wesley (41 environments). Hallam has moderate straw strength (45% lodged), similar to Wahoo (46% lodged), but worse than Wesley (34% lodged) in those environments (3) where severe lodging was found. The winter hardiness of Hallamis good to very good, similar to ‘Abilene’ (PI 511307) and comparable to other winter wheat cultivars adapted and commonly grown in Nebraska.