Disease Resistance of Wheat Varieties: Can Private Varieties Withstand the Pressure?

Table 4

Results from statewide disease resistance comparison of group means between public and private wheat varieties in Texas (2006-2007).

Type of disease	Ownership	Number of varieties	Mean	Statistical significance of difference in group means (at 5%)
PM	Public	33	4.2
	Private	23	5.0	No
Stripe rust	Public	39	5.7
	Private	84	4.5	Yes
Leaf rust	Public	43	5.7
	Private	88	5.9	No

(Source: Texas A&M University, “Variety Testing Information”) Note that the total number of public varieties under trial was 43. However, in case of PM, for many public varieties resistance rankings were not reported and hence excluded from the analysis. Disease resistance rankings range from 1–9, with 9 as the lowest resistance.