We conduct annual trials of new and leading spring and winter wheat, spring oat, and barley varieties at three or four locations,  evaluating the varieties for yield, maturity, and resistance to disease, lodging, and pre-harvest sprouting.

Trial Results 

Follow the link below to see small grains regional trial results and cumulative summaries over several years.

Testing procedures

The soft red winter wheat and the spring oat regional trials are generally grown in four locations, while the spring barley regional trials are grown in three or four locations. The wheat and oat trials near Ithaca consist of two replicates, while those in other parts of the state consist of three replicates. All spring barley trials have three replicates. All trial plots are six rows, 4 m long with 18 cm between rows. Prior to harvest, the plots are trimmed to 3 m and harvested with a plot combine. Disease and lodging notes are recorded on a 0 to 9 scale, with 0 being the best and 9 the poorest. All trials are planted in a randomized complete block design and analyzed by standard ANOVA. If there are indications of within-replicate field variation, a second ANOVA using a spatial adjustment is computed and the adjusted means are used for the summary. All trials are fertilized according to soil test recommendations for small grains. Winter grains generally receive a top dress of 40 lbs/a of actual N in the spring.

Fee Testing Programs

Wheat, oat, and barley trials are available to private companies that want to test their lines and varieties more extensively in New York State.

The entry fees for all winter crops will be $915.  Spring wheat, spring oat, and spring barley will be $600 per entry for private varieties.

The amount of seed required for the winter trials is a minimum of 1.2kg of wheat, 800g of oat, or 900g of barley (untreated if possible).  Spring trials require a minimum of 1kg of barley and 800g of oats.

The typical protocol includes routinely recording data on winter survival (winter wheat and barley), heading date, plant height, yield, and test weight at local locations. However, only grain yield, test weight, and lodging are recorded for remote locations. Any diseases that can be assessed accurately are scored.

Samples of all wheat lines are sent to the Wooster Wheat Quality Lab for milling and baking quality evaluation and barley samples are sent to the Cereal Quality Lab for malt testing. Turn-around time for data on wheat is about two weeks after harvest, but spring grains summaries are normally not distributed until after the winter grains are planted.

Companies wishing to place entries in variety trials must contact Mark Sorrells (mes12 [at] cornell.edu (mes12[at]cornell[dot]edu)) or David Benscher (db57 [at] cornell.edu (db57[at]cornell[dot]edu)). The deadline for winter entries is August 15 and for spring entries is March 1. 

Acknowledgments

The testing program depends on the ability to test new varieties in the areas where they will be grown under actual farming conditions. We gratefully acknowledge the farmers who have provided us with test sites for our regional trials. Without their support, we would not be able to provide accurate, unbiased test results. Extension specialists Mike Stanyard, Eric Smith, Kevin Ganoe, and Christian Malsatzki have been instrumental in arranging test sites, field days, and information distribution. Also, we thank Drs. Gary C. Bergstrom, and Margaret Smith, extension faculty in the Departments of Plant Pathology, Crop and Soil Sciences, and Plant Breeding and Genetics, for their excellent cooperation and support.