New Gascoigne wheat Strain May Work Well in Dry Australian Climate

Australian farmers should have another arrow in their wheat quiver as a new variety named Gascoigne has been developed that has worked well in past trials.

According to CSIRO it will probably perform best in the south-east New South Wales area.

CSIRO wheat breeder Garry Rosewarne said:

"It topped two trial sites in a very dry environment, but we've also had this in trials in 2004 and 2005 when they were quite good years and it was also yielding very well then.

"It's also got quite a large seed size, so we think that's certainly an advantage, particularly in dry finishes where you might get a lot of screenings.

"And it seems to perform well against all of the three rusts; leaf rust, stripe rust and stem rust."