MSU Crop Varieties Research
On January 19th, 2022, Montana State University and Montana Wheat and Barley Committee, alongside the Varietal Release Committee met with the Plant Sciences Department to discuss the proposed wheat, barley, and durum plant releases for this upcoming growing season.
In the image above you will notice four pots with red tags. These tags are marking the F1 hybrid in Dr. Mike Giroux’s Durum breeding program. F1 stands for Filial 1, which means “First Children.” The first filial generation seeds are the seed offspring resulting from a cross-mating of distinctly different parental types.
These plants incorporate a grain number increase, (GNI) wild type allele from an ancient landrace durum variety. Early studies have shown that this allele can increase grain size and protein content. The “F1” is the first cross of what will take around 8-12 years of crosses and incorporation studies. These findings will likely result in higher end use qualities that semolina millers are looking for. Semolina is the course wheat middling generally used to make pasta.
