Registration of 'Willow Creek' Forage Wheat

'Willow Creek' forage winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) (Reg. No. CV-1032, PI 655073) was released by the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station. Awnletted cereal forages are widely used for hay production on integrated crop-livestock operations in the Northern Great Plains. Five awnletted winter wheat accessions were evaluated for forage characteristics in 1996 and 1997, and Willow Creek was selected directly from PI 306505. Willow Creek was evaluated in replicated trials for forage yield and quality, grain yield, and agronomic characteristics from 1998 through 2008. Willow Creek is an awnletted winter wheat cultivar with good performance as an annual hay crop under irrigated or rainfed conditions in Montana and Wyoming. This cultivar has excellent winterhardiness and is tall and late-maturing. Willow Creek has good forage quality characteristics suitable for use by livestock in winter maintenance diets.