Narrative
Soft red winter wheat. Released for high grain yield, good test weight, early maturity, broad-based resistance to Fusarium head blight (FHB) [caused by Fusarium graminearum]. Is a white-chaffed, awnletted, soft red winter wheat with midlong, middense, tapered spikes. Coleoptiles are white and anthers are purple. Glumes are white, midlong and midwide with an oblique, midwide shoulder and midwide, acute beak. Kernels are soft, red, ovate, and mid-long with rounded cheeks and narrow, middeep crease. Brush is midsized, with midlong hairs and has no collar. Is moderately early, moderately-tall variety that is winter-hardy, has good straw strength and stands well in most environments. Its FHB resistance is similar to Truman including low disease severity (13.6%), low disease incidence (41.3% ), a low disease index determined as incidence x severity/100 (9.5%), low deoxynivalenol (DON) (5.8 mg kg-1), and a low percentage of scabby seed (11.8%) in diseased heads. Under greenhouse inoculation, had low disease spread (16.8%). In Northern Winter Wheat Scab Nursery in 2001, was one of only 2 entries with low scores for all measuers of disease assessment. The other entry was its full-season full-sib, Truman. Moderately resistant to stripe rust (caused by P. striiformis), but moderately susceptible to both leaf rust (caused by Puccinia triticina) and stem rust (caused by P. graminis). Possesses no known genes for resistance to either pathogen. Moderately resistant to wheat soilborne mosaic virus, moderately susceptible to wheat spindle streak mosaic virus, barley yellow dwarf virus and Septoria leaf blotch [caused by the fungus Mycosphaerella graminicola] and susceptible to powdery mildew [caused by Blumeria graminis] and Hessian fly [caused by Mayetiola destructor] biotypes B,C,D,E, and L. End-use quality evaluations conducted by the USDA-ARS Soft Wheat Quality Laboratory at Wooster, OH suggest that Bess has moderately good soft wheat milling quality and average baking quality.