The seeds may be lacking for perennial wheat to be grown on any
significant basis in Texas, but interest is not, according to Dr. Charlie
Rush, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station plant pathologist. From wheat
producers and cattle grazing operators to multiple state plant breeders,
Rush is finding a groundswell of interest as he begins planting new
varieties and starts a second year on his perennial wheat study.
Rush obtained his initial perennial wheat seed stock from Drs. Steve
Jones and Kevin Murphy at Washington State University in 2006. Rush's first
interest was in the perennial wheat disease resistance research by Dr. Tim
Murray, professor and chair of the plant pathology department, and Jones, a
wheat breeder.

He will be looking at perennial lines of wheat--wheat that regrows
after harvest and may survive for up to five years--for use in dual-purpose
grain-grazing cropping systems or as a potential feedstock for the
cellulosic bioenergy industry.

Perennial crops by their nature increase carbon in the soil, reduce
erosion and improve water quality, Rush said. Perennial wheat also offers
the chance for producers to put cattle in the field earlier and graze longer
in the spring, while still harvesting grain.

"We've been told by producers that having an extra few weeks in March
or even early April will be beneficial, because that is when the cattle are
putting on the weight," he said.

With perennial wheat straw being harvested for a bioenergy feedstock,
Rush said environmental issues are not a problem. The straw can be cut short
and the wheat quickly grows back, so the soil doesn't blow.

"We're just at the beginning of this work," he said. "The perennial
lines we've looked at has not been regionally adapted. So that's where we
are now. Once we get regionally adapted perennial lines, they will have even
greater value."

Rush, as well as Murray and Jones, is joining with Dr. Stan Cox, a
wheat breeder with The Land Institute of Salina, Kan. who has been working
on developing perennial crops, to do a national study on perennial wheat
adaptability. They will be sharing populations of perennial wheat varieties
that will be planted in several locations around the country.

Dr. Amir Ibrahim, a wheat breeder and professor with Texas A&M
University soil and crop sciences department, and Dr. Brett Carver, Oklahoma
State University wheat breeder, also are collaborating in the research.

Carver has been interested in identifying a cool season perennial for
several year, primarily for grazing, Rush said. Ibrahim is concentrating on
the germplasm traits concerning disease resistance, heat tolerance and
drought tolerance.

The studies also are generating international interest, Rush said. He
has been contacted by personnel at the Jon Innes Centre in Norwich, England,
who want to help the United Kingdom address how agronomic practices affect
habitat of and numbers of wild birds. They are looking for low-input
perennial cereals and have requested seed from Rush's trials.

In September 2006, Rush planted three replications of 20 lines of
perennial wheat provided by Washington State University, plus seven
non-perennial varieties already in commercial production in the High Plains,
for comparison.

Additionally, the plots were bordered on one side with a variety
highly susceptible to wheat streak mosaic virus and on the other with a
highly resistant variety.

Disease screening and forage quality sampling using remote imaging
techniques to measure the biomass were completed throughout the growing
cycle, Rush said.

The first year of research showed the grazing is as good as any annual
wheat, and cattle could have been put onto the plots by mid September, he
said. The grain production was about half that of annual wheats, as
expected.

In the second year of his research, Rush said things will be headed in
three directions. First, there will be the perennial wheat trials around the
country.

Second, wheats will be crossbred to get regionally adapted lines, he
said. The best annual lines of wheat for this region will be crossed with
existing perennial wheat lines to adapt the perennial trait into regionally
adapted wheat cultivars.

The resulting crosses that display the best agronomic traits and
regrowth will be selected and backcrossed with regional wheats, Rush said.

"This process will continue for about five years and by that time, we
will hopefully have some well-adapted perennial wheats that we can begin to
increase seed for early field testing," he said.

The third part of the research is to go back to the first 20 lines of
wheat he planted and carry forward the best 11 for further study on
agronomic aspects-fertilizer, water, insects and diseases.

"We have to know if it comes back in the second year and is riddled
with disease," he said.

Rush said he will plant the 11 selected lines again in another
location, along with letting the original plots regrow.

"We didn't know if we would get any regrowth here, and we did," he
said.

While the research is exciting and many producers have already
contacted him wanting to put out test plots, Rush said it will just take
time to get enough seed for on-farm studies.

He also cautioned that this is high-risk research; it is a brand new
program for Texas and it may not work in the long run.

"This is still very preliminary," Rush said. "There's a lot we don't
know about this. That's what makes it exciting. The potential is huge and
that's what I am looking at."
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