Five years after entering the wheat seed market in North America, Limagrain Cereal Seeds held its annual field day at the LCS Trio Research Station in Valley Center and celebrated progress.

LCS Chief Executive Frank Curtis, regional sales maanger Drew Hendricker and marketing director Zach Gaines from the Fort Collins, Colo. Headquarters joined station wheat breeder Marla Barnett and her team to showcase the results on already-released varieties and provide some stats on the performance of varieties that are in development.

TALKING VARIETIES: Limagrain Cereal Seeds regional sales manager Drew Hendricker talks about the peformance of already released Limagrain varieties.

"When we bought Trio five years ago, we acquired some good germplasm but a very narrow product line," Curtis said. "T158 , for example, is the biggest variety in western Kansas. It has  great agronomic qualities."

But, he said, going in, Limagrain realized that diversity was needed. And that has been accomplished.

On Thursday, Limagrain talked about varieties geared for almost every growing condition from the Texas Panhandle into South Dakota.

Hendricker talked about eight varieites already released: LCS Pistol, LCS Compass, LCS Wizard, LCS Mint, T158, T154, T153 and T163. The LCS designation goes to varieties developed on the Trio site by Limagrain Cereal Seeds. The T designation indicates varieties that were already under development by Trio at the time of the Limagrain purchase.

LCS Pistol is in foundation increase this year, having been released for planting last fall. Certified seed will be available this fall. Barnett described LCS Pistol as "T158 for central and eastern Kansas" saying the variety comes from a T-158 cross with a Pioneer line. At Hutchinson last year it yielded 110 bushels to the acre, Gaines said.

Barnett said there is also an experimental line in development that is a re-tooling of Piston but with much better stripe rust resistance than the original. In trials in Texas, where stripe rust traditionally emerges, T158 has shown good leaf rust resistance and Pistol is stronger against stripe rust.

LCS Compass is a variety most Kansas growers have not heard of, Hendrdicker said. "That's because it is a northern release," she said. "It's for Nebraska and South Dakota. It has good stem rust resistance, Fusarium head blight, and good test weight."

LCS Wizard has had some winter hardiness issues this year, but is overall a very strong variety, Barnett said. It is now being recommended for planting south of I-70. The variety looks great in plots in Wichita and has the highest two-year average of any variety in trials in Kansas and Oklahoma.

"I would say don't let one freak weather event make you give up on this variety. It's too good to toss aside," Hendricker said.

T158 comes from the Trio line and is one of the great wheats of western Kansas. It handles frost, has great disease resistance, and will rarely let you down, Hendricker said.

T153 is one of the earliest hard red winter wheats, heading at 134 days. It has good straw strength and good winter hardiness.

T154 is similar to 153, but not as early. It is good on acid soils and in dryland production. The adult plant has stripe rust resistance. It will show infection, but it won't spread. It has a high tiller rate and excellent resistance to soil borne mosaic and Fusarium.

T163 was selected for resistance to wheat streak mosaic. It has good milling and baking characteristics. It is adapted to the western portions of the central and High Plains. It is taller than T158 and matures two days sooner. It stands up to barley yellow dwarf and stripe rust. It also has excellent test weight.

Tomorrow: The experimental lines from Limagrain. Watch for your July Kansas Farmer print edition for more from the Limagrain Cereal Seeds spring field day.