Writer: Joe Bryant (806) 746-6101, j-bryant1@tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. David Worrall (940) 552-9941, d-worall@tamu.edu
VERNON–The wheat research program, a vital part of the work conducted at the Texas A&M University Agricultural Research and Extension Center here, is symbolic of the center’s response to the changing needs of producers since it opened 25 years ago.
“There was no dedicated wheat research program here when this station began in 1972,” said Dr. David Worrall, professor and wheat breeder with the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station at the center. “The wheat program operated at the College Station campus (of Texas A&M). When this station opened, Dr. Ed Clark (Experiment Station professor of agronomy who retired last year) maintained some test plots here for the College Station program.”
In 1977 the Experiment Station assigned Dr. Earl Gilmore, a wheat breeder, to the Vernon center to expand the work being done. When Gilmore became resident director of research at the center, he brought in Worrall in 1981 as wheat breeder.
“We were part of a large, well organized state program,” Worrall recalls. Dr. Kenneth Porter, Experiment Station wheat breeder at Amarillo, led the off- campus research effort. “But as far as developing materials for the Rolling Plains, there was none,” Worrall said.
“The first thing we did after I was hired was talk to producers in the area and tie their needs into the state program,” he said.
The Texas wheat breeding program in 1981 was looking for new varieties that were widely adapted to many regions throughout the wheat belt. “We’ve changed that target to wheats that are specifically adapted to certain regions,” Worrall noted. The program has released six varieties of these specifically adapted wheats.
When Porter retired a few years ago, the Vernon center assumed the breeding leadership for the High Plains and Rolling Plains, about 80 percent of the wheat production area in Texas.
Worrall said the focus is on developing varieties that meet the production needs of growers. “We’re now looking at not just dual purpose wheats– varieties for both grazing and grain production–but wheats released specifically for grazing, wheats for dual use and wheats for grain only.”
The wheat breeder said any success of the program is due not only to the efforts of the scientists and technicians at the Experiment Station, but also to the active participation and support of the producers and the county extension agents throughout the area.
“One thing we stress is that the growers and county agents are a vital part of our research program,” he said. “We’ve been fortunate to have really good support from them.
“One reason we’re working with grazing wheats is because the producers and county agents told us that is what we should be doing. We want to be sure that we’re turning out what they need. That’s why we’re here.”
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