MANHATTAN ( KSNT ) – Agricultural experts in Kansas say a new hybrid of wheat is growing in some farm fields across the state.
Kansas State University recently reported in a publication on Nov. 14 that an official with the Kansas Crop Improvement Association ( KCIA ) has found a wild hybrid of triticale wheat in three different locations. Marion Spiering with the KCIA said the new hybrid was not created intentionally.
“We found it in three locations this summer and it was a mystery plant,” Spiering said. “We didn’t know what it was, so I embarked on a quest to figure out what we were finding.”
Spiering said the plant is easy to spot due to its height as it stands above the surrounding wheat canopy. The hybrids were found in south-central Kansas along with Dickinson and Marion Counties.
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“At first glance, these farmers probably thought it was rye or triticale,” Spiering said. “But as they got closer to it and looked at the head, they realized it was neither. It was something new.”