The recent Prairie Recommending Committee for Wheat, Rye and Triticale (PRCWRT) meeting marked the first time a feed wheat developed by the Western Feed Grain Development Co-op was recommended for registration.
The variety, WFT603, is a Canada Western General Purpose wheat.
“The unique thing about this is any farmer in Western Canada can be a member of the co-op and have equal ownership of the variety,” said co-op chair David Rourke. “I think that could be fairly important as we get into contractual laws that prevent seed from being grown again. We’d like to keep the option available for farmers to own some of their own seed.”
Read Also
New crop insurer policy enables easier startup for faba beans
Agriculture Financial Services Corporation updated its normals for faba beans, which may open the door for more Canadian producers to feel comfortable growing the pulse crop in the future.
The 100-member co-op, formed in 2005, was established to develop cereal varieties specifically grown as feed wheats, rather than counting on inclement weather or disease to determine the supply of feed grains for Prairie livestock producers.
“By developing feed wheat cultivars, livestock producers will have a continuous, predictable supply of grain without compromising high-value grain for feed,” the co-op’s website says.
WFT603, which is higher yielding than the checks, is aimed at the livestock feed and ethanol market. It’s well suited to the eastern Prairies with a good disease package, Rourke said.
Seed should be available to co-op members in two years.
Two other CPS (red) wheats were recommended for registration. HY1319 was developed at AAFC’s Semiarid Prairie Agricultural Research Centre at Swift Current. Adapted to the Prairie wheat-growing areas, the variety yielded seven per cent higher than 5700PR across Western Canada during three years of co-op trials.
HY995 is a CPS (red) developed by Francis Kirigwi of Syngenta Canada. It yielded four to 11 per cent higher than 5700PR, he said.
HY995 is moderately susceptible to fusarium. That doesn’t meet the PRCWRT’s disease evaluation team’s guidelines, but the committee as a whole voted to recommend it.
Twenty-two new varieties — 20 wheats and two spring triticales — came before the PRCWRT. Two wheats were withdrawn and two were rejected by the committee through a secret ballot.
Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS)
BW947, a CWRS variety developed by Dean Spaner of the University of Alberta, was recommended for registration.
BW947 is early maturing, high yielding and has good stripe rust resistance.
“It had good lodging resistance and it had good leaf rust resistance,” in the co-op tests,” Spaner said.
BW947 matures four days earlier than Carberry, with improved yield.
PT765 was also developed by Spaner. It’s adapted to the Parkland and other wheat-growing regions of Western Canada.
PT765 is a high-yielding line and matures earlier than CDC Teal. It’s resistant to leaf rust and ranged from resistant to intermediate for stem rust and stripe rust.
PT584 is midge tolerant and is the first CWRS wheat to be moderately resistant to fusarium. It’s well adapted for the Parkland region and shorter growing season areas.
“This line has three things from pest resistance going for it and it also has nice yield levels,” said Pierre Hucl, who developed the variety at the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre.
Canada Western Hard White Spring
HW027, developed by Gavin Humphries at AAFC’s Winnipeg Cereal Research Centre, is higher yielding. While tall, it’s strong strawed, he said.
General Purpose
Six general-purpose varieties went before the committee — four wheats and two spring triticales. Both triticales were recommended for registration, as were three of the four wheats.
GP087 is adapted to most wheat-growing areas of the Prairies, particularly the eastern Prairies, where there’s high disease pressure.
It yielded similar to Pasteur in the eastern Prairies with straw strength similar to 5702PR. GP087 is three days earlier maturing than Pasteur.
GP087 has high resistance to leaf and stripe rust and low levels of moderate resistance to stem rust. GP087 carries Sumai genes for resistance to fusarium and is rated as moderately resistant.
GP097 was developed at AAFC’s Semiarid Prairie Agricultural Research Centre at Swift Current. While adapted for Western Canada it performs very well in dryland areas.
“One of the big improvements is the earliness of GP097 compared with the yield,” said AAFC Hexaploid Spring wheat breeder Richard Cuthbert.
GP097 has improved resistance to fusarium, leaf rust and stem rust and common bunt.
