Release of 'Essekerka', a high yielding winter wheat cultivar with good grain and flour quality

'Essekerka' (Reg. no. CV-1211, PI 704099), hard red winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was developed by the Agricultural Institute Osijek (Croatia) and released in 2023. Essekerka was derived from the cross 'Irishka' x 'Apache'. It was tested under experimental number Osk.4.354/12-18 and showed high grain yield with enhanced dough quality in trials (2019-2022) based on farinograph analysis. Essekerka has grain yield comparable to two high-yielding hard red winter wheat check cultivars (Apache and 'Kraljica'). Essekerka has higher grain yield than hard red winter wheat cultivar 'Viktorija' which is declared as check for quality. Overall, better Fusarium head blight resistance was observed in Essekerka than in 'Vikotrija'. Compared with one of the parent Apache, in various trials Essekerka matured 2-3 days earlier and was 2- to 3-cm shorter.