Introduction to the Quality Wheat Variety Xinong 979

In May, the Central Plains are full of vitality, with wheat fields stretching endlessly and tinged with gold, presenting a scene of harvest. Farmers in the fields comment on the promising growth of "Xinong 979," unable to hide their joy.

The new variety "Xinong 979," bred by Professor Wang Hui of Northwest A&F University over more than ten years, has been grown on a demonstration basis in the Huang-Huai wheat region for three years. Last August it passed national new variety approval and began to be promoted at an accelerated pace. At present, more than 1 million mu are being grown on a demonstration basis in Henan, the Guanzhong area of Shaanxi, northern Anhui, northern Jiangsu, southwestern Shandong and other parts of the Huang-Huai wheat region.

In order to better carry out the demonstration and promotion of "Xinong 979" and accelerate the development of the quality wheat industry, Northwest A&F University cooperated with Jinli Seed Industry Group and, together with local governments and relevant seed enterprises in Luoyang and Zhumadian in Henan Province, Xuzhou in Jiangsu Province, and Guoyang in Anhui Province, jointly held 4 fairly large-scale field observation meetings for the new variety, showcasing the excellent characteristics and cultivation techniques of "Xinong 979" and conducting discussions on quality wheat production and industrial development. All the observation meetings were a complete success and achieved the expected results.

Among the 4 observation meetings, the Luoyang meeting was the largest. It was hosted by Northwest A&F University and the Luoyang Municipal Government and was held on May 21 in Yanshi, Luoyang. More than 300 people attended, including representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the National Wheat Improvement Center, the Henan Provincial Department of Agriculture, the Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Henan Agricultural University, the Henan Provincial Seed Management Station, the Henan Provincial Grain Bureau, the Henan Provincial Grain Association, the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange, the Agricultural Development Bank of Henan Province, Jinli Group, agricultural bureaus and seed management stations of various cities and counties in Henan Province, as well as news media such as CCTV-7 and Science and Technology Daily.

First, they observed 20,000 mu of demonstration production fields of "Xinong 979" in Yanshi. They listened to an on-site explanation of the cultivation of Xinong 979 by Qi Yong'an, a farmer technician from Shiqiao Village, Shouyangshan Town. He said: "This year, the estimated yield of the 20,000 mu demonstration field is 550 kg per mu, and the estimated yield of high-yield fields is more than 600 kg per mu. After nearly three years of demonstration planting, the people's evaluation of this variety is: 'Short stature, strong stalks, lodging resistance, no disease, many spikes, heavy grains. Everyone who sees it praises it, and everyone who plants it is happy. A yield of 1,000 jin per mu is guaranteed.'"

After the on-site observation, a summary and exchange meeting was held at Yanshi Hotel. The attending leaders and experts conducted in-depth and extensive discussions on issues such as the varietal characteristics of "Xinong 979," cultivation management, demonstration and promotion, and the industrial development of quality wheat. The delegates spoke highly of the excellent characteristics of this variety and fully affirmed its promotion prospects.

The reason "Xinong 979" is favored by the vast number of farmers and experts is that this variety has outstanding characteristics that other varieties do not possess:

First, this variety is a weak-winterness early-maturing variety with good cold and frost resistance and outstanding earliness. It has achieved an important breakthrough in wheat breeding by combining winterness with early maturity, and it precisely fills the gap in winter-type early-maturing varieties in the Huang-Huai wheat region. It plays an important role in the rational layout of wheat varieties and the adjustment of the planting structure in the Huang-Huai wheat region.

Second, this variety achieves an organic combination of high quality and high yield, overcoming the contradiction that high-quality varieties are not high-yielding and high-yielding varieties are not high-quality, ranking at the leading level in the industry. Xinong 979 has relatively strong tillering ability, a high spike-forming rate, a medium to slightly large spike type, and good coordination among the three yield components. It has 400,000-450,000 spikes per mu, 38-40 grains per spike, and a 1,000-grain weight of 42-45 grams. It has a yield potential of 700 kg/mu and a yield level of more than 500 kg/mu. In the national regional trial, the two-year average yield was 510 kg per mu, with a maximum of 680 kg. This variety has large, plump, bright and translucent grains, and good grain commodity quality. After years of multi-site sampling and analysis at the national level, the protein content is 14-16%, the wet gluten is 32-34%, the sedimentation value is about 53.2 ml, and the stability time is 17.9-35.1 minutes. Its quality reaches the national quality standard for strong-gluten wheat varieties. In the Third National Quality Wheat Selection in 2005, Xinong 979 was rated as a national quality strong-gluten wheat variety.

Third, this variety achieves a combination of multiple resistances, with both high yield and wide adaptability and stable yield. Xinong 979 is resistant to cold, frost and lodging, and has relatively good resistance to pre-harvest sprouting. According to the national disease resistance identification results, this variety is highly resistant to stripe rust, moderately resistant to moderately susceptible to scab, sheath blight and leaf rust, and slow-rusting to stem rust. It has good comprehensive field resistance and good maturity, achieving a good combination of high and stable yield with wide adaptability, and is suitable for planting in high- and medium-fertility irrigated fields across the vast wheat region of the southern Huang-Huai area. Based on the above excellent characteristics and three consecutive years of demonstration planting, "Xinong 979" has gained farmers' recognition and welcome. Experts generally believe that Xinong 979 is a widely adaptable, high-yielding and high-quality new wheat variety with outstanding advantages and no serious shortcomings.

At present, the proportion of springness varieties planted in the Huang-Huai wheat region is too large, and the variety layout is unreasonable. Every year, low-temperature and frost damage in winter and spring causes a certain degree of wheat yield reduction. Promoting and utilizing the new weak-winterness, cold-resistant, early-maturing, high-yielding and high-quality wheat variety Xinong 979 is of great significance for the rational layout of wheat varieties in the Huang-Huai wheat region, further stabilizing and improving wheat yield and quality, and promoting the industrial development of quality wheat.