Selecting improved buckwheat for the Northeast.

Important traits are:

• Rapid leaf development: to smother weeds and to give the plant a good canopy before seed fill.
• Concentrated seed set: most of the seeds are produced in the first 10 days of flowering.
• Large seeds for kasha and soba production: >80% over a #12 mesh.
• High harvest index in large plants: overcome the tendency of plants to become overly vegetative.

Work to date has identified lines that are improved in all the desired traits, and these are being developed further. In each year, the new variety AC Manisoba has outperformed the standard variety Manor by about 10%.

Manisoba was adopted as the main commercial variety in the Northeast in 2000. While the tough 2000 growing season was a difficult introduction, the variety has done well in 2001 and 2002.

Koto, which was named after being identified as a promising breeding line for New York was named and released by Kade Research. It has outyielded Manisoba by more than 10% in our commercial trials in New York. In addition to the traits above, it also has superior flavor for soba noodles. Most growers find the distinctive black seedcoat to be an attractive sign of a premium product.

Koto was available to Northeast growers for the 2003 season under a total production contract. (See the Fall 2002 newsletter)

This work was sponsored by The Birkett Mills of Penn Yan, NY.

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