An awnless hard red winter wheat that was developed for
grazing, but in addition to high forage yields it also has a great grain yield
throughout Texas, he said.
The seed heads of most hard winter wheat varieties have awns or beards that are
typically about an inch long, Rudd said. In awnless wheat varieties, the awns
are very short or non-existent.
“Cattle grazing wheat after the seed heads have emerged are “annoyed” by the
bristly awns in their face and generally prefer awnless wheat,” he said. “The
awnless trait makes it a lot more valuable for those wanting to graze it out.”
The parentage of TAM 204 includes the popular drought-tolerant TAM 112 and
Jagger, which was well known for excellent fall grazing, he said.
“TAM 204 also has one of the better insect resistance packages we’ve ever had:
it’s resistant to greenbugs, Hessian fly and it also has wheat curl mite
resistance. That wheat curl mite resistance is important, because the mite is
the vector for wheat streak mosaic virus.”
He said because wheat planted for grazing often is planted early, greenbug and
Hessian fly pressure increases, along with leaf rust and stripe rust sometimes,
and “definitely early planted wheat is more vulnerable to the wheat streak
mosaic virus.
“Having built-in resistance is a real good thing for the grazing wheat,” Rudd
said, adding TAM 204 is resistant to stripe and stem rust, and has intermediate
resistance to leaf rust.
“Also the acid soil tolerance and soil-borne mosaic virus resistance of TAM 204
allow it to be grown in areas of North Texas and South Central Oklahoma where
these production constraints exist.”
Steve Brown, Texas Foundation Seed Service manager in Vernon, emphasized how
important the TAM 204 grain-yielding capabilities were, saying many producers
in the Rolling Plains graze Weathermaster 135.
“It’s kind of an old standard, and the yield differential is as much as 20
bushels per acre,” Brown said.
Foundation seed is the first step in the commercial process to produce the certified
seed that is sold to growers.
“This step is designed to assure seed purity and variety integrity during the
commercial life of the variety,” he said.
Planting Time | Planting Depth | Planting Rate |
For Grazing late summer or early fall. For Grain late fall | 1-2" | Drilled 60-120 lb. |
Hard TAM 204 Beardless Wheat
- Availability: In Stock
-
$13.90