GrainsWest Spring 2020

Spring 2020 Grains West 46 Wheat breeding programproduces new varieties, develops scientists Impressive research GRAIN SCIENCE NEWS WITH EARLY SNOWFALLS HAVING impacted harvests in recent years, the time couldn’t be better for Dean Spaner’s wheat breeding program to hit its stride. A University of Alberta professor and plant breeder, Spaner focuses on bringing high-yielding but early-maturing wheat varieties to market. It’s a natural fit for the northernmost wheat breeding program on the continent. When he took over the program almost 20 years ago, it was all but defunct. Since then, he and his team have registered 10 CWRS wheat varieties with five registered in 2018/19 alone. Spaner’s long-term crew includes research associate Muhammad Iqbal and technicians Klaus Strenzke, Izabela Ciechanowska and Joe Moss. Teaching numerous courses and super- vising many graduate students, Spaner’s contribution to Alberta agricultural research is impressive. Two of his varie- ties, Parata and Go Early, were registered in 2015 and are now available as certified seed. According to Spaner, these varieties are among the quickest maturing CWRS available, and this comes with minimal yield sacrifice. “There’s a correlation between higher yield and longer maturity,” said Spaner, noting that yield and maturity can also both be highly dependent on location and season. “Parata is about five days earlier than Carberry [the check variety], and the seed guide says it will yield 97 per cent of Carberry, but in some areas, it will yield the same.” Wheat farmers will have to wait for the latest of Spaner’s varieties. Registered be- tween November 2018 and March 2019, va- rieties Ellerslie, Jake, Tracker, RedNet and Sheba are being multiplied by seed growers for at least the coming growing season. SeCan distributes both Parata and Ellerslie. According to Jim Downey, SeCan manager of research and develop- ment, Ellerslie “should yield about six per cent better than Parata with maybe simi- lar or slightly longer maturity and quite a bit stronger straw.” Jake and Tracker, the two earliest yield- ing varieties of the new cohort, are licensed to Canterra Seeds. The company had regional success with Thorsby, one of the first varieties Spaner registered. According to Colette Prefontaine, pedigreed seed territory manager for Canterra Seeds, it performed well in Alberta’s Peace Region. “With Thorsby, the farther north you go, the bigger the heads got relative to oth- er varieties,” said Prefontaine. Thorsby’s downfall—literally—was poor standabil- ity. But Prefontaine sees Spaner making improvements in this area. “The standability on his varieties is getting better and better,” said Prefon- taine. During the 2019 growing season, Jake yielded better than Tracker in both plots and field-scale testing. It also ma- tured earlier. A small plot of Tracker was harvested last fall at La Crete, but a plot west of Carstairs was snowed under. “It seems to be more favourable to length- ened daylight and increasing the yield that way,” said Prefontaine. This is welcome news for farmers around Edmonton and points north. These new varieties aren’t strictly for northern growing regions. SeedNet, a company owned by several southern Al- berta seed growers, is marketing RedNet and Penwest Seeds of Three Hills holds the rights to Sheba. These varieties are medium maturing and have additional attractive attributes. RedNet has the best Fusarium head blight resistance rating of the group, complementing the strong rust resistance of Spaner’s varieties. According to Larry Penner, owner of Penwest Seeds, Sheba is an awnless

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