Development of Hard White Spring Wheat for Western Canada.

Hard red spring is the predominant type of wheat produced in western Canada. Hard White Wheat (HWW) is associated with higher milling extraction, whiter flour, a milder taste as well as whiter coloured whole wheat baked goods compared to hard red wheat. Thus, HWW is highly desirable from an end user perspective. White wheat also tends to be preferred over red wheat for noodle production. The Canada Western Hard White Spring (CWHWS) wheat class was created to market new varieties of high protein, hard white wheat, such as Snowbird, which was released in 2000. Unfortunately, earlier HWW varieties were found to be too ‘weak’ for some enduse applications. Since that time, progress has been made in breeding new varieties. Snowstar, released in 2007, is characterised by its short, strong straw and high yield potential along with high test weight and improved gluten strength. More recently, HW021 and HW024 have been released. These newer varieties have higher yield potential and/or earlier maturity compared to previous varieties. In addition, HW021 has improved leaf and stem rust, and common bunt resistance.  HW024 was adopted as a check in the HWW registration test due to its high gluten strength and improved remix baking performance compared to earlier HWW varieties. An overview of the HWW breeding progress over the past decade will be presented.