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Photo: Brian Fowler
HYBRIDADVANTAGE:
NEWRYEVARIETYHOLDS TREMENDOUS
POTENTIAL FORWESTERNCANADA
IN JULY, CANADA REGISTERED ITS
first hybrid cereal variety for commercial
release: Brasetto hybrid fall rye. Although
hybrid rye is dominant in Europe, Braset-
to is the first variety to make the jump to
the Canadian market.
“It’s a producer’s first glimpse of what
a hybrid cereal could do for them,” said
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada cereals
researcher Jamie Larsen.
Brasetto was produced by Germany’s
KWS, the leading rye breeder in the
world, and the variety is licensed to Regi-
na pedigreed seed producer FP Genetics
for sale in Canada.
One of the reasons rye lends itself to
hybridization is that it is an open-polli-
nated crop, where pollen must travel from
one plant to another for fertilization to
occur, Larsen said. Wheat and barley, on
the other hand, are self-pollinated.
According to University of Saskatche-
wan rye breeder Brian Fowler, who has
worked with several KWS hybrid lines,
the sky is the limit for hybrid rye varieties
such as Brasetto.
“In terms of production potential,
there’s a phenomenal advantage,” he said.
“I grew some of them in yield trials and
you didn’t even have to weigh the bags to
see they yield quite a bit better than any-
thing that we have here in Canada.”
In trials, Brasetto has been 20 to 25
per cent higher yielding than its closest
Canadian competitor, Hazlet, Fowler
said. And its advantages do not end there.
Brasetto and other hybrids are shorter and
have stronger straw than open-pollinated
varieties, Larsen said. They also produce a
more uniform stand and maturity, which
could simplify fungicide application tim-
ing for growers.
Rye is highly susceptible to ergot, and
the disease hampered early e orts to
establish hybrid rye in Western Cana-
da, Fowler said. However, field trials on
newer hybrid varieties have shown ergot
levels that are comparable to conventional
rye varieties.
Both Fowler and Larsen indicated that
the cold tolerance of the hybrids could be
an issue in Western Canada, although the
field trials to date have shown winter sur-
vival rates similar to those of established
open-pollinated lines.
“The reason why the winter survival
could be lower is that these lines were
originally developed in Germany and they
can only select for cold tolerance when
they see it,” Larsen said. “Their winters
aren’t as severe as they are out here in
Western Canada, so they don’t see that.”
This fall, FP Genetics and Paterson
Grain have teamed up for a demonstration
program to showcase the new variety.
Several hybrid rye fields will be planted,
and the resulting grain will be tested to
determine its suitability for a variety of
end uses.
“The reason we did it with Paterson
Grain is that we only have a limited quan-
tity of seed this year,” said FP Genetics
CEO Rod Merryweather. Given the small
seed supply, he explained, the partnership
allows FP Genetics to do substantial test
milling with Paterson Grain’s valuable
customer base.
“So it’s helping to create end-use mar-
kets for the sale of the product,” he said.
Merryweather added that the main
end-use target for Brasetto is the North
American milling market, but it could also
be suitable for the distilling and livestock
feed markets.
Brasetto will be available to all growers
for planting in August of 2015, Merry-
weather said, and odds are it will not be the
last rye hybrid we see in Western Canada.
“KWS has other advanced lines that
they’re testing or that are in registration
trials now,” he said. “We expect to see
improved varieties on a regular basis.”
Fall
2014
grainswest.com
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