The Western Region

The extremely diverse climatic conditions in the Pacific Northwest permit all classes of wheat except durum to be grown there successfully.

The principal varieties are white, and of both winter and spring habit. A considerable acreage of hard red winter varieties is also grown. Stinking smut, or bunt, was one of the most serious hazards to wheat production in the region as recently as the early 1930's. The development and distribution of resistant varieties reduced the percentage of cars grading smutty at the Pacific Northwest markets from 36.7 percent in 1931 down to 2.8 percent in 1942. A more virulent type of stinking smut, referred to as "dwarf bunt", formerly caused extremely heavy losses in the valleys of Utah, Idaho, and western Montana. In 1935, 39.8 percent of the cars received at the Utah markets graded smutty. However, the introduction of adapted varieties resistant to that type of smut caused the percentage of cars grading smutty to drop to 9 percent in 1943. The figures are on market grade and do not reflect the losses in yield on the farm from smut.

The hard red winter varieties Ridit, Oro, and Rio, and the white club variety Albit, were among the first smut-resistant varieties distributed to growers in the Columbia Basin. They have been largely replaced by even better strains. Rex, a bunt-resistant, high-yielding white winter wheat with medium short stiff straw, was distributed in Oregon in 1933. Its milling qualities are not considered equal to those of the better varieties by the trade. Reduced losses in recent years have made growers indifferent to the smut problems. This fact, together with the poor quality of Rex, has caused the acreage of resistant varieties to decrease in the Columbia Basin during the past few years. This has increased the percentage of cars grading smutty to 8.3 percent in 1945. Hymar, a smut-resistant white club wheat distributed from the Washington station in 1935, has yielded well in the sections of higher rainfall.

Orfed, the newest bunt-resistant variety for the Columbia Basin, was distributed from the Washington station in 1944. This high-yielding, smut-resistant variety has soft white grain of good quality and has stiff straw that will stand for combining. It can be grown from either fall or spring seeding, although it is not so winter-hardy as are some of the strictly winter varieties. It should not be seeded early in the fall.

Alicel and Elgin, two productive club wheats with soft white grain and very short stiff straw, are grown to some extent in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. They are susceptible to most races of bunt and should always be treated before seeding.

Relief was the first resistant wheat released in the area where the dwarf bunt was causing almost complete losses in some fields. It is a hard red winter variety distributed in Utah in 1934. It is being replaced with Wasatch, a bearded variety, and Cache, a beardless variety in Utah and southern Idaho. These two hard red winter wheats also are replacing the other hard red winter varieties in the Gallatin and Kalispell Valleys of Montana, where dwarf bunt has caused heavy losses. These three varieties, all developed in Utah, are susceptible to some races of tall or ordinary bunt, but they have enabled farmers in areas infested with dwarf bunt to continue wheat production. Dwarf smut cannot be controlled by seed treatment or cultural practices, while ordinary bunt can be largely controlled by these measures. Relaxation in seed treatment programs, increase in races of smut that attack varieties resistant to races formerly present, and the continued growing of completely susceptible varieties are resulting in an increase in the percentage of wheat grading smutty at Utah markets.

Growers on irrigated lands needed a spring variety with short stiff straw for use with new clover seedings. Lemhi, which has soft white grain of excellent pastry quality, was developed for them.

Losses caused by stem rust have been practically eliminated from the wheat fields of California through the distribution of Baart 38 and White Federation 38, which are resistant to stem rust and to bunt. Released by the California Agricultural Experiment Station in 1939, they are grown on more than two-thirds of the acreage in that State. Big Club 43, which resists the hessian fly, a cause of heavy losses in some sections of California, was distributed in 1944. Bunt and stem rust do it little harm.

THE AUTHOR

B. B. Bayles, an agronomist in the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, has made special studies of cereal crops in Kansas, Oregon, and Montana since 1922. He was coordinator of wheat research, cooperating with experiment stations in Western States from 1930 to 1937 and later in the Eastern States.