8th INTERNATIONAL WHEAT CONFERENCE

WINTeR WheAT BReedINg ANd SuPeR WheAT STudy
IN yeLLoW RIVeR NINgxIA BASIN
Hanmin Yuan, Dongsheng Chen, Xiaoliang Wang,
Guizhen Zhao, Fuguo Zhang, Weijun Zhang, Ling Kang,
Changkai Lai, Jinping Fan
Ningxia Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Yinchuan, Ningxia, 750002, PR China
E-mail Address of presenting author: hanminyuan886@yahoo.com.cn
Since 1990, Crop Research Institute, Ningxia Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences,
began to introduce winter wheat and study its use in the Yellow River Ningxia
Basin (YRNB), which was previously a spring wheat production area. Winter wheat was
selected for research because it could significantly increase yield, and also mature 20 days
earlier. Expanding winter wheat production northwards could provide potent conditions
for reforming the farming system and adjusting plant industry in the Basin. Winter
wheat breeding program began in 1991. As a fifteen- year- effort, a group of good quality
and high yield new lines were bred up by Ningxia wheat breeders. Both “Ningdong
10” and “Ningdong 11” have been approved by the Ningxia Crop Variety Commission
in August of 2007. The two new winter varieties have reached the winter wheat breeding
target, and could increase yields from 20% to 50% compared to local major spring
wheat cultivar “Ningchun 4”. “Ningdong 10” had a combination of high molecular weight
subunit (HMW-GS) and low molecular weight subunit (LMW-GS) that were null, 7+9,
2+12, Glu-A3a, Glu-B3j, with low polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity and Wx-B1 absent.
Meanwhile, “Ningdong 11” had null, 7+9, 2+12, Glu-A3c, Glu-B3h, with low PPO activity.
Accorded to the test results of State Agriculture Ministry Grain Quality Supervising
and Testing Centre (Beijing), “Ningdong 10” had flour protein: 14.4%~16.9%, wet gluten:
31.3%~31.9%, flour yield: 76.4%, water absorption: 60.5%~62.1%, dough development
time: 2.1~4.2 min, stabilization time: 5.7~6.9min, bread process value: 82 scores, nodule
process value: 84 scores, steam bread process value: 87 scores. Meanwhile, “Ningdong
11” had flour protein: 14.8%~16.8%, wet gluten: 31.4%~32.0%, flour yield: 76.8%, water
absorption: 63.0%~65.2%, dough development time: 2.2~4.5min, stabilization time:
5.9~6.0min, bread process value: 84 scores, nodule process value: 85~88 scores, steam
bread process value: 81scores. “Ningdong 11” has met the fair quality wheat standard
of State. Our cropping practices were closely associated with our winter wheat breading
program in YRNB. Experimental results have shown that bed planting wheat could
save 38% of the water used in traditional planting in YRNB, where the environment is
dry, low rainfall (180-200mm), and higher elevation (1100m). The results also showed
that common wheat cultivar did not reduce yield significantly with lower inputs under
bed planting condition. However, adapted wheat could increase grain yield from 10% to
20% when compared to conventional planting. Now, “tree-zero- tillage” or “double-zerotillage”
conservation and rotation tilling systems have been tested and succeed in YRNB,
which were: rice→winter wheat→rice; winter wheat→potato planted in summer→winter
wheat; maize→winter wheat→soybean. “Super wheat” that should have good quality and
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