Propagation

In remembrance of Professor Donald Wyse, a great friend of MCIA who died July 2, 2024, we present here remarks he shared upon receiving MCIA’s highest honor, the Achievement in Crop Improvement Award, in January 2021.

A 46-Year Career Working in Collaboration with MCIA and the Grass Seed Industry in the Roseau and Lake of the Woods Region

By Donald Wyse (1947–2024), Professor, Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota

My wife, Beverly, and I, along with our two children Dawn (5 years) and Ryan (3 weeks), moved from East Lansing, Michigan, to St. Paul in June 1974, to start my career as an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota. I had just completed my Ph.D. program in weed science and plant/herbicide biochemistry at Michigan State University. I had recently agreed to accept a weed science research and teaching position in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics that had been lobbied for by MCIA and the northern Minnesota grass seed industry. The research focus of my new position was selected to be perennial weed management across all of Minnesota’s agricultural systems. The primary research focus of the position was intended to be on two perennial weeds, quackgrass and Canada thistle, which were of great concern at that time to farmers across the state of Minnesota, and especially important to the grass and legume seed producers in [the] Roseau and Lake of the Woods region of northern Minnesota.

After early discussions with MCIA personnel, and the grass seed producers, my research program soon became focused on the development and implementation of quackgrass management systems to support the production of certified quackgrass-free seed of turf and forage grass species. When I started my career, quackgrass was endemic throughout Minnesota, and was the primary deterrent to the production of high-quality grass seed of turf (Kentucky bluegrass) and forage (timothy) species that were under production in the region at that time. Quackgrass was also prohibiting the expansion of grass seed production to new turf species, like perennial ryegrass. Quackgrass reduced the seed yield of the turf and forage grasses, but the primary impact was on seed quality, because it was difficult to remove quackgrass seed and seed parts from the harvested Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass seed during the combining and seed cleaning process. Grass seed that could not be certified to be free of quackgrass could not be sold for sowing purposes, which was a very costly potential economic loss to grass seed producers, [if] their seed was rejected. This is where my interaction with MCIA started, in a collaborative working relationship, along with the grass seed producers and seed processors in Roseau and Lake of the Woods counties.

My early interaction with MCIA was through discussions with Ward Marshall, who was the Manager of MCIA when I arrived in my new position, and then Harley Otto, soon thereafter. My primary MCIA contact became Ray Derry, who lived in Roseau at the time I initiated my research program. He became one of my primary mentors in the early days of my career, as I learned about the grass seed industry and the associated weed seed contamination issues facing the grass seed industry. Over the years, I had the privilege of continuing my relationship with MCIA personnel through my interaction with Gary Beil, Ben Lang, Fawad Shah, Roger Wippler, Cindy Wippler, and Kris Folland. I soon learned that there was a great working relationship between the grass seed producers, seed processors, MCIA, and the University of Minnesota, all designed to produce high-quality, certified grass seed for the global market.

When I started my research, the primary seed processors in the Roseau, and Lake of the Woods region were Marvin Seed, Northrup King, Northern Farm and Garden, and Habstritt Farms. Over the years, these companies evolved and today the seed processing and marketing leadership for the grass seed industry is provided by Northern Excellence, Habstritt Seed Co., and NorFarm Seeds. These organizations, in partnership with the seed producers, MCIA, and University of Minnesota researchers, have developed coordinated grass seed production and seed processing systems that dramatically reduced quackgrass contamination in producer fields. The low level of quackgrass seed remaining in the harvested grass seed has been eliminated through the development of ingenious seed processing systems that rely on the art, science, and technology developed by the seed processing industry in the region, resulting in the reliable production of high-quality, certified quackgrass-free grass seed from the Roseau and Lake of the Woods region of Minnesota.

My relationship with MCIA was also facilitated through my interaction with many of the grass seed producers, seed processors, and associated industries that have worked in a close partnership with MCIA, and in some cases played leadership roles in the MCIA organization over the years. This included Charles Habstritt, Chuck Habstritt, Scott Habstritt, Jim Habstritt, Gustav Kveen, Ed Baumgartner, Mike Baumgartner, Bob Bergland, Stephen Dahl, George Helmstetter, Evert Helmstetter, Steven Helmstetter, Yvonne Magnusson, Richard Magnusson, Charles Lund, Doc Berry, Don Berry, Brent Benike, Dwight Roll, and many others. What I have learned in my career is that it truly does take a Village to produce great outcomes, and in this case a Village composed of individuals and families from Roseau, Lake of the Woods, and Ramsey counties.

Major contributions from the Village I worked in:

On my first trip to Roseau, in late June of 1974, I was taken out to a Kentucky bluegrass field, directly north of the Habstritt Farms seed processing facility, to view the quackgrass challenge that I would face in my career. The field was infested with the most vigorous and phenotypically diverse patches of quackgrass that I had ever seen in my life. The group that took me out to the site were members of the families and organizations that I would work with for the next 46 years. They showed me a plot of quackgrass that had been treated with a new herbicide at that time, called Roundup. The plot had been treated the previous fall with a high rate of the herbicide; the quackgrass regrowth in the treated plot was more vigorous than what was in the untreated check. The herbicide treatment had just thinned out the quackgrass stand and made it more vigorous. I remember Charles Habstritt Sr. looking at me with a grin on his face as he wished me good luck in my career that was designed to subdue quackgrass. But now, when I look back on that day, I can say that I did have a great career. However, my accomplishments were the result of members of the Village working together to figure out how to subdue quackgrass in the grass seed production region of Minnesota.

I initiated a comprehensive quackgrass research program in the fall of 1974 to evaluate how herbicides, tillage, and cropping systems could be used in combination to develop durable and profitable quackgrass management systems for grass seed producers. One of the new tools that became available that fall was Roundup, which became a very important tool in the development of effective quackgrass management systems for grass seed producers. Very early on in the development of glyphosate for the control of quackgrass in grass seed production systems, we discovered that regardless of the rate or date of treatment quackgrass regrowth always occurred following the initial application. In subsequent research, we discovered that a nocturnal weevil (Notaris bimaculatus) invaded quackgrass stems and then migrated into the rhizomes where they fed on the rhizomes, resulting in the detachment of rhizome segments from the parent plant, prohibiting the translocation of glyphosate into the detached rhizome sections. Buds on the detached rhizome segments sprouted, allowing the re-establishment of the quackgrass populations. This understanding led to the design and implementation of successful quackgrass control systems.

The cost of Roundup, in its early stage of introduction, was about $30 per acre, which was very expensive for use in the grass seed production system, limiting its use by producers. Producers tried to reduce the cost of the Roundup treatments by reducing the rate of application, but this resulted in a dramatic reduction in quackgrass control. My project discovered how to cut the cost of the Roundup treatment by 50 percent without a corresponding reduction in quackgrass control. We discovered that if the water carrier rate was cut by 50 percent, when the herbicide rate was reduced by 50 percent, the control remained equal to the full herbicide rate with the standard carrier rate. The Roundup label was modified by Monsanto to reflect this discovery, which saved grass seed producers and other farmers a lot of money over the years.

Since the glyphosate treatments failed to give complete control of quackgrass prior to seeding new stands of Kentucky bluegrass, we developed a technique to selectively control tall growing quackgrass in newly seeded Kentucky bluegrass fields. It was based on the principle that quackgrass regrowth from rhizomes produce tall stems, while newly seeded Kentucky bluegrass did not produce stems without vernalization. This situation provided for a height differential between the two species, allowing for the spraying or wiping of a glyphosate solution on the tall growing quackgrass stems without making contact with the low growing Kentucky bluegrass plants. My research team developed and evaluated several prototype applicators that provided the proof of concept. Then, we worked in partnership with Dwight Roll, Myron Kofstad, and Charles Habstritt, to develop a roller applicator that allowed for the selective application of glyphosate solutions on quackgrass stems and leaves in new seedlings of Kentucky bluegrass. This selective treatment delayed the re-establishment of quackgrass in Kentucky bluegrass seed production fields. We developed a company to produce the roller applicators and made them commercially [available] to producers across the country. The roller applicator was also used to control tall growing Park off-types in fields of short, elite varieties of Kentucky bluegrass that were being introduced for seed production in the region.

My research team discovered that herbicides from two new herbicide families, the FOPs and DIMs, which had been developed to control annual and perennial grasses in dicot crops, could also be used to selectively control quackgrass in creeping red fescue, sheep fescue, and hard fescue. This opened up the potential to move the seed production of these fescue species into the Roseau and Lake of the Woods region, along with the ability to selectively manage quackgrass in the seed production system. When this discovery was made, none of varieties of these fescue species performed well in the region. However, Eric Watkins, the University of Minnesota’s turf grass breeder, has since developed, and will soon release, a new high yielding creeping red fescue variety for production in the region, allowing for another grass seed crop to be produced in the region in which quackgrass can be selectively controlled.

My herbicide biochemistry team was the first research team in the world to discover the mode-of-action of the FOP and DIM herbicide families. The site of action was ACCase, a key enzyme in lipid synthesis in all plants. This discovery led to the development of Poast tolerant field corn and sweet corn varieties, which were marketed commercially by Pioneer Hybrid, DeKalb, and PepsiCo.

The major outcome of the ACCase research effort, however, was in support of the grass seed industry, through the development of Assure II tolerant perennial ryegrass. Kevin Betts, working in partnership with Nancy Ehlke and Donn Vellekson, developed the first Assure II tolerant perennial ryegrass variety through the crossing of an annual ryegrass selection that contained an herbicide resistant form of ACCase, with a turf type perennial ryegrass line. This discovery led to the development of the University of Minnesota’s perennial ryegrass breeding program. This breeding program helped to initiate the perennial ryegrass seed production industry in the Roseau and Lake of the Woods region of Minnesota. The ryegrass breeding program has developed turf type perennial ryegrass varieties with good winter hardiness, Assure II tolerance, and improved texture and color. The Assure II tolerant varieties allow producers to control quackgrass selectively in perennial ryegrass seed fields. Ranger, Ranger II, Artic Green, Green Emperor, Polar Green, and Royal Green perennial ryegrass varieties developed by the University of Minnesota breeding program have been released to grass seed producers in the region over the last 20 years. New perennial ryegrass varieties with improved color are scheduled to be released from the program very soon.

The development of effective, glyphosate-based quackgrass control programs in all cropping systems associated with the grass seed production system, along with the introduction of Assure II tolerant perennial ryegrass, has opened up the production of many additional commercial perennial ryegrass varieties, which now supports a very vibrant perennial ryegrass production and processing industry in the Roseau and Lake of the Woods region.

Following many years of the evaluation of the phenotypic variation in quackgrass populations collected in the Roseau and Lake of the Woods region we identified lines of quackgrass that we incorporated into a population of quackgrass that produced high forage yields with high digestibility. The selected line was released as a forage grass variety, named Evert, which was a result of a collaboration with Nancy Ehlke and Craig Sheaffer.

Based on the successful development of the grass seed industry in the Roseau and Lake of the Woods region over the last 70 years, it is now viewed by many as a model for the development of similar collaborative programs in other regions of the state. A diverse set of individuals and organizations, including faculty, state agencies and community leaders are working together to develop this type of program for the entire state of Minnesota through the Forever Green Initiative. The program is now focused on the development of 15 new perennial and winter annual crops, that can be incorporated into Minnesota’s agriculture system to produce ecosystem services and new economic opportunities for producers and rural communities. MCIA, and several grass seed producers, and seed processors have been instrumental in supporting the development of this new initiative. These groups have played very important roles in the development of one of the first Forever Green crops, Kernza. The University of Minnesota recently released MN-Clearwater, which is the first perennial grain variety developed in the world. It is now available for production by Minnesota grain and seed producers. For additional information on the Forever Green Initiative go to the Forever Green website: https://forevergreen.umn.edu.

I also want to acknowledge the University of Minnesota faculty and administrators that have supported the development of the grass seed industry in the Roseau and Lake of the Woods region of Minnesota. Park Kentucky bluegrass was developed by H.L Thomas, a grass breeder in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics. Carl Borgeson, Secretary of MCIA, worked with two grass seed producers, Gustav Kveen and Charles Habstritt, to evaluate the performance of Park Kentucky bluegrass in the Roseau environment, and found that it was an excellent seed producer. This discovery resulted in a rapid expansion of the grass seed industry in the region. The Agronomy and Plant Genetics Department heads, Herbert Johnson, Orvin Burnside, Kent Crookston, Burle Genenbach, Nancy Ehlke and Gary Muehlbauer, have provided the level of support for Laddie Elling, Nancy Ehlke, Donn Vellekson, and myself that was necessary to continue our work on the issues facing the grass seed industry over the last 60 years. The Horticultural Science Department heads also provided support for the turf grass breeding programs led by Don White and Eric Watkins that have and will continue to contribute to the long-term vitality of Minnesota’s grass seed industry. I also want to acknowledge the support of the Richard Magnusson Family, Marv Zutz, MDA personnel, and all of the members of the Northern Minnesota Grass Seed Producers organization that made it financially possible for University of Minnesota personnel to support the grass seed industry.

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Note: The above text has been lightly edited. MCIA also published an edited and condensed version of this text in the fall 2024 issue of the Minnesota Seed Grower.

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