Canadian National Wheat Cluster
Development of Field-Ready Cultivars of Canada Western Soft White Spring Wheat
Written by: Ian Doig Since he joined the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research and Development Centre in 2007, Harpinder Randhawa has participated in the development of nine wheat varieties and one triticale variety for use in Western Canada. While its production levels are low in Western Canada, Randhawa’s considerable wheat breeding efforts include Canada Western …
Development of Canada Prairie Spring Red Cultivars for Western Canada
Written by: Ian Doig Canada is the fifth largest wheat producing nation in the world, and most of the nation’s crop is grown on the Prairies. As wheat represents such a foundational part of the region’s farm economy, the importance of cultivar development is self-evident. “It’s very, very critical to continuously develop new varieties of …
Development of Improved Winter Wheat Cultivars for Western Canada
Written by: Ian Doig In April 2022, Harwinder Sidhu took the reins of the winter wheat breeding program at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Lethbridge Research Centre. For the full year prior, he worked with now-retired head breeder Rob Graf on the transition. Sidhu’s first year with program coincided with the final field season …
Delivery of an Innovative Winter Wheat Agronomic Package to Achieve Sustainable Wheat Production in the Canadian Prairies
Written by: Ian Doig In 2016, winter wheat yielded substantially higher than spring wheat across all three Prairie provinces. Statistics Canada pegged the numbers at six per cent in Alberta, 26.5 per cent in Saskatchewan and 25.4 per cent in Manitoba. This alone makes a compelling case for increased acreage, but there are many reasons …
Developing Canadian Western Red Spring Varieties for Northern Areas
Written by: Ian Doig On the northern Prairies, diseases and growing conditions, including soil type and climate, differ considerably from those to the south. Funded by the Canadian National Wheat Cluster, Santosh Kumar and his team at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Brandon Research and Development Centre develop CWRS wheat varieties in line with …
Breeding Field-Ready Canada Western Red Spring Cultivars for the Eastern Prairies
Written by: Ian Doig Santosh Kumar develops CWRS wheat varieties for the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Brandon Research and Development Centre. The Canadian National Wheat Cluster is a key funder of the breeding work he and his team conduct. Paired with internal AAFC funding that advances breeding technologies, the creation of new varieties can …
Pre-Breeding Platform for Canadian Wheat Improvement
Written by: Ellen Cottee Lead Researchers: Dr. Sylvie Cloutier (AAFC – Ottawa) and Dr. Curt McCartney (AAFC – Morden) With a global population of nine billion expected by 2050, many in the agriculture industry are interested in finding tactics to keep up with the growing demand for food. For Canada, feeding the world means growing …
Investigating Crop Management Options to Lessen the Impact of Fusarium Head Blight in Wheat
Written by: Ellen Cottee Lead Researcher: Dr. Kelly Turkington (AAFC – Lacombe) Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) has long been an enemy of wheat producers across Canada. Emerging heavily in Manitoba in the early 1990s and spreading through the prairies in the late 2000s, the fungal disease causes kernel damage and wheat grade detrimental to producers’ …
Developing Winter Wheat Varieties Adapted to Ontario: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach
This multidisciplinary project is developing new winter wheat germplasm and varieties adapted to Eastern Canada, particularly western Ontario. Their objective is to incorporate enhanced disease resistance, tolerance against yield-limiting abiotic stresses (such as sub zero temperature during the winter and frost heaving caused by freeze and thaw cycles in the spring), higher yield, and improved quality. …
Investigating Crop Management Options to Lessen the Impact of Fusarium Head Blight in Wheat
Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a fungal disease that infects wheat and other cereal crops. Depending on when infection occurs, FHB can reduce the number of kernels developed or result in Fusarium damaged kernels (FDKs) and contamination with deoxynivalenol (DON). If infection happens later, kernels may not appear damaged, but could still contain DON, which is a health …
Development of Spring Wheat Varieties to Enhance Profitability for Producers in Quebec and Eastern Canada
Spring wheat accounts for about 90% of the wheat grown in Quebec—half is milling wheat, the other half is feed wheat. Unlike other regions of Canada, the feed wheat market is very important in Quebec, explains Silvia Barcellos Rosa, wheat breeder, Centre de recherche sur les grains (CÉROM). She says growing conditions in Quebec are not …
Development of Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) Wheat Cultivars for Western Canada
Most of the 1.5 million acres of Canada prairie spring red (CPSR) wheat grown in Canada every year (60 or 70%) is planted in Alberta. That’s just one of the reasons why Harpinder Randhawa, research scientist and wheat breeder with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lethbridge Research and Development Centre, thinks he is ideally located for …