Steele Hard Red Spring Wheat Renamed Steele-ND

Steele, a new hard red spring wheat variety, has been renamed Steele-ND, according to Al Schneiter, North Dakota State University Department of Plant Sciences chair.

Steele-ND was released six weeks ago by the NDSU Agricultural Experiment Station. “Misinformation received from USDA, which must clear all variety names, indicated that using the name Steele was acceptable,” Schneiter says. “It has since been learned that AgriPro used the name Steele on a soft wheat variety released in the late 1980s. To comply with the uniform variety naming guidelines, USDA would not allow use of that name.”

The name Steele-ND has been approved by USDA and that name will appear in extension publications, seed tags and in promotion. “Normally names that are so similar are not allowed, but an exception was made in this case,” Schneiter says.

Steele-ND is a cross between Parshall and ND 706. ND 706 has Amidon and Grandin and several experimental lines in its parentage.

Steele-ND is a semi-dwarf with a heading date and height similar to the high-yielding Reeder variety. Straw strength is similar to Russ but not as strong as Reeder or Alsen, the leading variety in North Dakota. Alsen and Reeder were both developed by NDSU.

The test weight of Steele-ND is about equal to Alsen but the kernels are larger, according to Mohamed Mergoum, NDSU hard red spring wheat breeder. Protein is slightly less than Alsen.

Steele-ND has good resistance to leaf and tan spot and is about equal to Alsen in wheat scab resistance. "In western North Dakota, where diseases are generally less of a problem, Steele-ND has yielded almost equal to Reeder and more than Alsen," according to Mergoum. "In central and eastern North Dakota, where disease pressure is greater, Steele-ND has out-yielded both Reeder and Alsen."

Steele-ND has good milling and baking properties, which are important because of the importance of North Dakota's export market.

Steele-ND will be allocated through the County Crop Improvement Association this spring. Approximately 68 percent of all hard red spring wheat grown in North Dakota was developed by NDSU.

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Source: Al Schneiter, (701) 231-8137, albert.schneiter@ndsu.nodak.edu
Mohamed Mergoum, (701) 231-8478, mohamed.mergoum@ndsu.nodak.edu
Editor: Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, richard.mattern@ndsu.nodak.edu