Double cropping soybeans after winter wheat is an appealing approach to boosting profitability in Midwest crop rotations and enhancing soil health. To optimize the profitability of this system, it’s important to discover high-yielding winter wheat varieties that can be harvested earlier, allowing for more favorable conditions for soybean yield development at planting. 

However, current data about winter wheat varieties doesn’t specify crucial developmental stages, such as the release of winter dormancy and achieving the target 14 percent grain moisture. 

This project, funded by Illinois Soybean Association, will identify high-yielding winter wheat varieties that can be harvested earlier and allow earlier planting of double-crop soybeans to maximize soybean yield potential.  

By providing farmers with more data on both available and experimental winter wheat varieties, this project aims to inform them to make better decisions regarding their crop rotations. Understanding when these varieties break winter dormancy helps farmers choose ones that are less likely to be damaged by spring freezes. Similarly, knowledge of when varieties reach the desired 14 percent grain moisture content for harvesting enables farmers to choose and plant suitable double-crop soybean maturity group varieties that can mature before fall freezes. 

 Dr. Jessica Rutkoski, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), is leading this project. The research team also comprises Luis Gehrke and Tadele Kamssa, Research Specialists, along with Sophia Arista, a Master’s Student, all from UIUC. 

 To learn more about this project, visit ILSoyAdvisor.com/Research.