Durum growers have wanted more planting options. Now they have one, albeit in limited supplies.
Carpio, a new variety said to offer a strong combination of quality, yields and disease-resistance, has been released by the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station and is available for 2015 planting.
"Overall, it (Carpio) is a good balanced agronomic package," says Dale Williams, director of the North Dakota State University Foundation Seedstocks Project, which makes public crop varieties available to the state's agriculture industry.
Because Carpio is new, "There's a limited amount of seed out there." And because durum prices are attractive and interest in planting the crop next spring has risen, Carpio seed "probably will be spoken for fairly early," he says.
Carpio is protected under the Plant Variety Protection Act and can be sold only as a certified class of seed. Until Dec. 15, Carpio seed is available in 11 North Dakota counties and farmers in them will have first crack at it. After that date, farmers in other counties will have access to Carpio seed if any remains, Williams says.
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North Dakota is the nation's leading durum producer, and the NDSU durum breeding program accounts for the great majority of new varieties. Carpio is named after the town in northwest North Dakota, an area where durum is popular.
Williams calls Carpio a "new generation of durum types that have superior quality" and a "world-class durum," one that will give "North Dakota and U.S. durum production a leg up on world marketing."
Carpio also is "an extremely high yielder," he says.
It likely will replace some older varieties that provide high yields but lower quality, he says.
Carpio has good protein content and test weight and has the highest scores of NDSU durum varieties in several quality categories, according to NDSU.
Crop disease has been a major concern for many North Dakota durum growers in recent years. Though Carpio is relatively resistant to crop disease, resistance to scab, a common disease that hurts both yields and quality in small grains, is difficult to breed into durum, Williams says.
The new variety's chief attraction is its combination of high quality and high yields, he says.
"We're excited about the advancements in quality without leaving behind the high-yield characteristics," Williams says.
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For more information, contact a local NDSU extension agent, NDSU Research Extension Center or NDSU Foundation Seedstocks at www.ndfss . com.
