Thursday, February 12, 2026
Media Contact:
Alisa Gore | Office of Communications & Marketing, OSU Agriculture | 405-744-7115 | alisa.gore@okstate.edu
From the mat to the field, the debut of a new wheat variety highlights the competitiveness
and grit that define Oklahoma State University. On its way to market this fall, the
variety is perhaps OSU’s most widely adapted since Duster in the early 2000s.
“This variety will compete on the farm at the highest levels of yield potential,”
said Dr. Brett Carver, wheat genetics chair and Regents professor in the OSU Department
of Plant and Soil Sciences.
“I could have just as easily called it ‘Heavyweight’ because if it was a wrestler,
that is the weight class it would compete in. Currently, we don’t have any other varieties
with this level of yield competitiveness and straw strength to keep them standing
in the field under typical Oklahoma conditions in June.”
This heavyweight title inspired Carver in naming the experimental variety OK20708.
The variety’s commercial name will be Wyatt after former OSU wrestler Wyatt Hendrickson.
Hendrickson wrestled at OSU for one season, accumulating an undefeated regular season
record and qualifying for the NCAA Championships as the No. 2 seed in the heavyweight
class. He won an individual NCAA Division I championship in 2025. He became the 145th
national champion in OSU history and was the third OSU wrestler to win the Dan Hodge
Trophy, awarded to the nation’s best collegiate wrestler.
Carver announced the new wheat variety and its name at the annual Oklahoma Genetics,
Inc. meeting on Thursday in Oklahoma City. OGI is a nonprofit made up of Oklahoma
seed producers and processors, who partner with OSU’s Wheat Improvement Team to market,
license and distribute OSU-developed wheat varieties.
“OSU Agriculture is committed to developing wheat varieties that give producers the
strength, resilience and performance they need to stay competitive,” said Dr. Jayson
Lusk, vice president and dean of OSU Agriculture. “Each new release reflects years
of research and a dedication to delivering exceptional varieties. If we can create
the heavyweight champion of wheat with outdated facilities, imagine what we can do
with modernized facilities.”
Wheat discoveries at OSU start at the Agronomy Research Station. OSU is investing
in the future of OSU’s wheat breeding program by modernizing wheat research with the
Agronomy Discovery Center, which will include a new headhouse, research greenhouses
and a dynamic and multipurpose Research and Education Center.
During wheat research trials supported by the USDA-Agricultural Research Service,
Wyatt wheat performed well across the Great Plains from central Texas to Central South
Dakota, ranking as a top yielder in Kansas and Nebraska in 2024 and in Texas and South
Dakota in 2025. In 2020-2023, Wyatt demonstrated yield superiority over three competitive
OSU varieties — Showdown, Smith’s Gold and High Cotton, averaging five or more bushels
per acre more than Showdown and six bushels per acre more than Smith’s Gold in 2021-2023.
Carver said the OSU wheat breeding program does not typically have experimental lines
winning USDA-ARS yield trials in Nebraska, South Dakota and central Texas, particularly
all at the same time.
Wyatt was bred from Romanian variety FDL Miranda and OSU variety Smith’s Gold, giving
it lineage to OSU variety Gallagher, another variety with strong yield. By 2017, the
Miranda variety accounted for the second-highest area of seed wheat produced in Romania.
Both Miranda and Smith’s Gold have strong yield properties, with Smith’s Gold also
carrying strong stripe rust resistance.
The following are the attributes of the Wyatt variety:
Very large kernel size with acceptable test weight and strong milling quality
A high-yielding ceiling with excellent straw strength and intermediate height
Average protein content
Moderately strong adult plant resistance to stripe rust
Moderate resistance to leaf rust, with fungicide application being necessary within
environmentally challenged conditions to maintain kernel size and yield
Moderately strong resistance to barley yellow dwarf
Intermediate resistance to tan spot
Good grazing tolerance and yield recovery from grazing
Variable baking quality with slightly below average dough strength
Moderate susceptibility to Septoria nodorum blotch and Septoria tritici blotch under
severe pressure
Low tolerance to suboptimal nitrogen applications
Wyatt has moderate but variable gluten strength that would be best used in commodity
grain channels where it would be blended with other varieties and sources, according
to Carver.
“I usually prefer many of our varieties to be marketed without blending because they
stand so well on their own for baking functionality, but this one does not have enough
dough strength to stand on its own,” Carver said. “But Wyatt can provide good baking
performance with a reasonable balance of dough strength and extensibility. That, combined
with an exceptional kernel size, carries a dual benefit for both farmers and millers.”
It seems appropriate that the heavyweight champion of wheat should be announced at
the height of OSU’s wrestling season as the OSU heavyweight champions of wrestling
prepare to face off against Virginia Tech at 1 p.m. Sunday in Blacksburg, Virginia.
One final home match will be fought on Feb. 22, and the Big 12 Championship is slated
for March 6 in Tulsa.
“We’re incredibly grateful to OSU Agriculture for honoring Wyatt in this way,” OSU
Wrestling said in a statement. “It’s a powerful example of the Cowboy Code in action.
Thank you, OSU Agriculture.”