Anvil Wheat drops for low rainfall areas

NOTE: Extract from 23-9-22 Farm Weekly story Grains Innovation Australia releases LRPB Anvil wheat. Full story available online. Header photo: Grains Innovation Australia breeder Michael Materne inspecting LRPB Anvil wheat summer increase strips. Photo: Farm Weekly

The launch of a new hard imidazolinone (IMI) herbicide tolerant wheat variety, LRPB Anvil, bred by Grains Innovation Australia (GIA), has been described as a great example of success through diverse collaboration. GIA breeder Michael Materne combined forces with LongReach Plant Breeders (LRPB) wheat breeder Bertus Jacobs to produce Anvil wheat for growers in Australian low rainfall regions.

“This is the first wheat to come out of our Innovative Wheat Program, a joint program which develops improved high yield wheats with robust features in an IMI background,” Dr Jacobs said.

LRPB Anvil is a two-gene IMI tolerant wheat with quick spring maturity and bold early growth that provides good early weed competition.

“Anvil has expressed excellent adaptation to low rainfall areas with its rapid grain filling, delivering high yields in faster finishing environments,” Dr Jacobs said.

“In medium rainfall areas it is also an option in later-break scenarios and delayed sowing strategies for double knock weed control.”

LRPB Anvil has an Australian Hard classification in the southern zone and is being commercialised by Pacific Seeds with good availability throughout the Seed Associate network. Dr Materne has a long track record of breeding improved conventional and herbicide tolerant lentil varieties. Now, instead of working on lentils in isolation, his breeding focus with GIA has been how to improve varieties of multiple crops to suit a broad range of farm systems and regions.

“Innovation doesn’t just happen,” Dr Materne said.

“Through combining our ideas, broad agricultural knowledge, skills, and breeding resources from GIA and LRPB, we have developed Anvil together.