Wheat Varieties Virtual Tour for Nebraska.

Wheat variety tours are held throughout Nebraska about two weeks prior to winter wheat harvest. The tours allow wheat growers to see, compare, and learn about the many winter wheat varieties available to them, and to get an early glimpse of new experimental lines. The Wheat Varieties Virtual Tour web site (http://www.panhandle.unl.edu/wheat/) was developed for those who were unable to attend the tours and for growers making variety selection decisions for the coming season. The site contains pictures and descriptions of recommended wheat varieties. It provides growers with variety recommendations for each of the five major wheat production regions in the state. A Winter Wheat Variety Selection Tool was recently developed and added to the web site to assist growers sort through the many recommended varieties and identify those varieties that have the characteristics that best meet their needs. Users respond to seven questions ranging from where they are farming to class of wheat and preferred coleoptile length. The selections are used to query a database containing information on all the recommended wheat varieties. Varieties meeting selected criteria are displayed in a pop-up box. Varieties that fit the selected criteria are listed in order of their 3-yr average yields from university variety test plots from that region. A link to the variety descriptions is also included. Variety descriptions include a picture of the variety from the past year’s variety test plots, a written description of the variety, a link to a wheat variety characteristics table, and a contact list of certified seed growers with that variety available for sale. Management of the site requires a considerable time commitment from the end of wheat harvest in mid-July to August 1 in order to have the most recent information available to growers so they can make timely seed purchase decisions.