Jianli Chen
Plant, Soil, Entomological Science, College of Agricultural Science,
University of Idaho, USA

Wheat production in Idaho ranks among top seven in the US. It generated a cash value of $808 million on 1.3 million acres in 2012. Around 60% of wheat is grown in Southeast of Idaho and the majority of them are grown under irrigation. Over 60% of wheat grown in Idaho is for export market. Combining of high grain yield and desirable end-use quality and disease resistance has been a great challenge. Variety development has been accelerated by collaborative testing of breeding materials in diverse environments and analysis of end-use quality with industry companies. The collaborative effort resulted in the release of soft white winter cultivar ‘Brundage’, soft white spring cultivar ‘Alturas’ and hard red spring cultivar ‘Jefferson’, which accounts for 20.5% of production in the past five years. Variety development has also been accelerated using molecular markers associated with resistance to diseases and insects and with bread baking quality. Research program on water and nitrogen use efficiency and improved yield has been under development using molecular assisted technologies. The breeding program has been supported by State, Idaho Wheat Commission, and competitive grants from USDA-ARS NIFA.