August 4, 2000

TAM 302 doing well
on Texas High Plains

By Mike Barnett
Editor

There’s a new hard red winter wheat variety—TAM 302—on the block for Texas High Plains producers.

“Probably most significant to what producers deciding which varieties to plant this year, it out-yielded all the check varieties by nine bushels per acre in our ’99 field trials in Bushland,” said Dr. David Marshall of Dallas, a small grains breeder who developed the new variety.

This is a trend that’s been established at the research center at Bushland the last three seasons. Brent Bean, professor of agronomy and weed science at Bushland, said the variety has yielded “very well. In fact, last year I think it was at the top or very close to the top.”

“We’ve seen more growers planting TAM 302 in the two years it’s been on the market. It looks very promising on the High Plains as well,” he said.

One concern Bean has with the variety is its winter hardiness.

“We’ve not had a hard winter here in four or five years. That variety came from Dallas. It has good leaf rust tolerance. It’s one I think I’d be willing to try because of it’s yield. But I’m still concerned about the winter hardiness.”

Marshall said TAM 302 is well adapted to all wheat-growing areas in the northern half of Texas, or roughly north of the 30th parallel. He said its winter hardiness compares well to 2137, Ogallala and TAM 202. The plant breeder said high yields on TAM 302 have also been reported in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas.

In addition to high yields, TAM 302 provides good protection against leaf rust, powdery mildew and yellow dwarf virus. It also shows good resistance to both the mosiac virus and Hessian fly.

The variety averages 30 inches in height, similar to the Jagger and Hickok varieties. It also tolerates acid soils and has no know problems with lodging or shattering.