Features Agronomy Cereals
New cereal varieties

Public and private plant breeders continue to bring new cereal varieties to market, with improved yield, disease resistance, new marketing opportunities and better agronomic performance. This year (2013) sees 10 new varieties with a scattering through the different cereal classes.

Canadian Western Red Spring
AC Vesper VB is a second-generation midge tolerant Canadian Western Red Spring, with yield potential of 120 percent of AC Barrie with large seed, high test weight and intermediate (fair) rating to fusarium head blight (FHB). It is a top yielder in both Saskatchewan and Manitoba provincial trials. Available from SeCan members.

Canadian Western Hard White Spring
AC Whitehawk is an improved quality hard white wheat with very early maturity (two days earlier than AC Barrie), and medium-short height with strong straw. Available from SeCan members and Richardson Pioneer. Identity preserved contracts required through Richardson Pioneer.
 
Canada Prairie Spring wheat
AC Conquer VB has wheat midge resistance and a very high yield potential at 123 percent of AC Barrie. It is rated R (resistant) to stem rust, common bunt and stripe rust, and is one day later than AC Barrie. From Canterra Seeds.
SY985 is a medium maturity Canada Prairie Spring Red wheat variety with a yield potential of 102 percent of 5700PR. It has milling wheat grain quality potential, short straw and good lodging resistance suited for the CPSR growing area. Available at Richardson Pioneer, Cargill and Andrukow Seed.

Durum
AC Transcend is a Canada Western Amber Durum variety with a yield potential of 104 percent of Strongfield. It has a VG (very good) rating for leaf and stem rust, common bunt and leaf spot. It has improved resistance to FHB. Available from FP Genetics.

Winter wheat
Pintail is an awnless, general-purpose winter wheat adapted to the non-rust areas of Western Canada. It has a high yield rated at four percent more than the general-purpose checks, and is particularly well adapted to the Parkland area with very good winter hardiness. It is resistant to stripe rust and rated MR (moderately resistant) to leaf spots and powdery mildew. Pintail has moderate height and good lodging resistance. Available from Mastin Seeds.

Two-row hulless barley
CDC Carter is a smut-resistant two-row hulless barley with excellent threshability and a solid disease package. It has a great fit for food or feed markets. It is similar to CDC McGuire in yield and agronomics, but brings the advantage of smut resistance in a hulless variety. Available from SeCan members.
 
Oat
CDC Seabiscuit is a white milling oat that yields 109 percent of CDC Dancer. It has a later relative maturity and is rated MR to Smut. This variety is gaining interest from millers due to its high grain yield combined with excellent milling yield and plump kernels. From Canterra Seeds.

AC Bradley is a white hulled milling oat with high yield and early maturity, and is moderately susceptible to both leaf and stem rust. It is currently under milling evaluation. It provides short, strong straw and a reasonable disease package. Available from SeCan members.
 
Triticale
Brevis has a yield advantage of approximately 10 percent over check varieties. It has very good test weight that is close to the average weight of wheat. Brevis has a shorter straw with good lodging tolerance. It is resistant to prevalent rust races including Ug99. It is also moderately resistant to fusarium. Seed is very limited in 2013, and should be more widely available in 2014 at Wagon Wheel Seed Corp in Churchbridge, Saskatchewan.

March 27, 2013  By Bruce Barker