2009 Annual Report 1a.Objectives (from AD-416) On-farm testing and proof-of-concept trials for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 wheat growing seasons for newly-developed bread wheat cultivars. 1b.Approach (from AD-416) Plant, maintain, examine, and harvest drill-strip size experiments on growers farms using standard varieties and newly-developed bread wheat cultivars. 3.Progress Report This project related to inhouse objective 2: Develop improved methods of marker-assisted selection and apply markers in development of improved wheat and oat. On-farm research included growing five experimental, hard wheat lines and appropriate check varieties on farmer’s fields in 11 locations in North Carolina. Locations were in the counties of Ashe, Beaufort, Cumberland, Haywood, Lenoir, Moore, Robeson, Rowan, Tyrrell, Wake, and Washington. These counties span North Carolina from east to west, and north to south. For the 2008-09 growing season, quality of hard wheat varied from poor to excellent. Poorer quality was found in counties in the southern parts of the State, while excellent quality grain quality was found in north, east, and western counties. Progress was monitored with the cooperator by phone and email throughout the growing season. Field locations were visited 6 times during the growing season.