Improved varieties of hard red winter wheat and triticale are being
developed for the Rolling Plains and High Plains through a research effort
coordinated from the Amarillo Center and conduced in the Rolling Plains by
technical personnel at the Vernon Center. The major breeding goal is to
develop varieties that are disease, drought, and insect resistant and produce
well as dual-purpose forage and grain crops.
An integrated team of agronomy/livestock/forage/economics scientists conduct
small grains management research on the 550-acre Smith/Walker Research Unit to
evaluate small grains management practices and integrate dual-purpose small
grains and introduced forages into livestock and cropping systems. A range
of management practices including tillage, soil fertility, chemical weed
control, and grazing intensity and duration are being evaluated. Economic
analyses are conducted to evaluate returns in both a graze-out and a
graze-plus-grain harvest system. In addition to economic analyses, results
are measured primarily in terms of grain yield, forage yield and beef
production.