Wheat breeding at the University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota wheat breeding program develops new wheat varieties well suited to Minnesota and surrounding states. Varieties are bred for yield, protein content, improved straw strength, and disease resistance, with each variety building on the success of the last.

Research focuses on identifying genes underlying economically important traits, like straw strength and resistance to diseases like stem rust, leaf rust, Fusarium head blight, barley yellow dwarf virus, and bacterial leaf streak. 

Researchers then use cross-breeding to combine plants with desired genes in a greenhouse setting before moving the most promising crosses to the field for performance evaluation. Wheat lines are tested in the fields on St. Paul Campus as well as at Research and Outreach Centers (ROCs) and in farmers’ fields across the state. 

Wheat that is harvested in the field goes to a lab in Fargo, which mills and bakes bread with each variety under evaluation, to assess the varieties’ baking qualities.

The strongest performing wheat lines are publicly released and distributed by the Minnesota Crop Improvement Association.

All University of Minnesota wheat varieties