The Colorado State University (CSU) Wheat Breeding and Genetics Program was initiated in 1963 to provide Colorado’s wheat industry with a source of locally-developed winter wheat varieties with superior adaptation for Colorado’s tough climatic conditions. The primary goals of our program are to:
- develop improved hard red (HRW) and hard white (HWW) wheat varieties and germplasm adapted for the diverse production conditions in Colorado and the west central Great Plains, and
- conduct applied-basic research to improve understanding of genetic and environmental factors that affect wheat yield and end-use quality
Our approach to wheat variety development is based on a firm foundation of field testing, taking advantage of a network of 14 trial locations in eastern Colorado – 9 of which are hosted by cooperating wheat producers. Excellent facilities on the CSU campus, including state-of-the-art greenhouse, end-use quality testing, doubled haploid, and molecular genetics/genomics laboratories, provide us the necessary tools to develop improved varieties using the most modern technologies. Our program is staffed by extremely dedicated and experienced research associates and we have at our disposal the necessary facilities and infrastructure to ensure success.
In our sixth decade of continuous wheat breeding activity, we continue to enjoy the excellent support provided through the partnership between CSU and the wheat industry in Colorado. Funding for our program comes from a combination of state and federal funds provided by the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station (CSU AES) and Colorado wheat industry groups, including the Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee (CWAC) and the Colorado Wheat Research Foundation (CWRF).
We hope that you will find materials located within these web pages useful. If you have any comments or suggestions about our program, please send us an email.
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