Soft red winter (SRW) wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivar 3434 (Reg. No. CV1040, PI 656754) developed and tested as VA03W434 by the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station was released in March 2008. Cultivar 3434 was derived from the threeway cross Roane/Coker 9835//VA96W270. Cultivar 3434 is widely adapted and provides producers and end users with a very short stature, stiffstraw, fullseason cultivar that is resistant to powdery mildew [caused by Blumeria graminis (DC.) E.O. Speer], and has high yield potential, good winter hardiness, and good milling and baking quality. In Virginia's official variety trial, cultivar 3434 had an average grain yield (20062008) of 5981 kg ha1, which was surpassed only by USG 3665 (6181 kg ha1). In 2007 USDAARS uniform southern (39 entries, 19 environments) and uniform eastern (44 entries, 22 environments) SRW wheat nursery trials, cultivar 3434 produced average grain yields of 4455 and 4844 kg ha1, respectively, compared with nursery mean yields of 4146 and 4791 kg ha1, respectively. When evaluated for quality on an Allis Chalmers Mill, cultivar 3434 had moderately high break flour (314327 g kg1) and straight grade flour (757762 g kg1) yields, and softness equivalent values (70.888.0 g 100 g1). Flour protein concentration of cultivar 3434 is moderately low (7.579.46 g 100 g1), and gluten strength (104110 g 100 g1) is intermediate. These quality attributes of cultivar 3434 combined with low flour sucrose solvent retention capacity (85.888.5 g 100 g1) contribute to its good pastry baking quality (cookie spread diameters of 17.0818.81 cm).
