The work to reduce cadmium levels in Canada Western Amber Durum has paid dividends, new research by the Canadian Grain Commission has found.
“The more than two-fold decrease in cadmium concentrations observed in CWAD bulk exports during the past three decades demonstrates that the breeding programs, cultivar registration requirements in the Canadian registration system, plus the adoption of low cadmium accumulating cultivars by producers, successfully reduced the cadmium content of CWAD,” the study states.
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The effort to breed new durum varieties that accumulated less of the heavy metal, which is naturally occurring in soil, began in 1991 in response to concerns from some buyers. A decade later, cadmium levels had begun to decline and by the 2019-20 crop year, levels were less than half of what they had been, the paper states.
