Features Agronomy Cereals
New cereal varieties update

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. The 2014 crop year will see 14 new varieties with a scattering through the different cereal classes.

Canadian Western Red Spring
AAC Bailey is a hard red spring wheat suited for all wheat growing areas of the western Canadian Prairies, especially short season zones, due to it maturing four days earlier than Carberry. It yields two per cent higher than Lillian with higher flour yield and stronger gluten. AAC Bailey is rated R (resistant) to leaf and stem rust. Available from Canterra Seeds.

SY433 is a hollow-stemmed, awned CWRS wheat, producing a consistent, high-quality grain with excellent absorption, stability and mixing tolerance for baking. Yield is 101 per cent of AC Barrie (check). SY433 offers very good resistance to leaf, stem and stripe rust, loose smut and bunt, and moderate resistance (MR) to Fusarium head blight (FHB). Distributed through Cargill.

CDC VR Morris is a hard red spring wheat with a very high yield potential averaging 117 per cent of AC Barrie. It has a very strong disease package, including MR for rusts, general leaf spotting and fusarium head blight. Available at Viterra Ag Retails.

CDC Thrive is a hard red spring wheat with a yield potential of 112 per cent of AC Barrie. It has Clearfield tolerance and offers growers cleaner fields, higher protein content and earlier harvest. Available at Viterra Ag Retails.

Canadian Western Hard White Spring
AAC Iceberg represents a new generation of hard white wheat with improvements in yield and disease resistance over other white wheat varieties available in the market. AAC Iceberg is an awned, semi-dwarf wheat with good standability and large kernel size. AAC Iceberg is the highest yielding hard white wheat, with yields comparable to hard red spring wheats such as Carberry. In three years of hard white wheat Cooperative tests across Western Canada in 2008, 2009 and 2011, AAC Iceberg yielded an average of 70 bushels/acre and had an average grain protein of 13.9 per cent. It will be available on a limited market development program through Alliance Seed Corporation.

Durum
CDC Desire is a new CWAD wheat that offers excellent protein and colour characteristics. This durum variety has similar height characteristics to AC Strongfield, but with an earlier maturity and enhanced standability. CDC Desire has resistance to leaf rust, stem rust and stripe rust, and offers a similar Fusarium head blight (FHB) rating to AC Strongfield. Developed by Syngenta Canada.

Winter wheat
AC Emerson, a Hard Red Winter Wheat is the first wheat in Western Canada with an R rating to FHB. It is suited for the winter wheat growing region of the Canadian Prairies. It yields 100 per cent of CDC Falcon, has excellent lodging resistance, a high test weight and improved protein content, and will be included in the milling class. AC Emerson is rated R to stem and stripe rust. Available from Canterra Seeds.

Pintail is an awnless, high yielding feed quality winter wheat. It has a high yield rated at four per cent 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 to leaf spots and powdery mildew. Pintail has moderate height and good lodging resistance. It will be available in the fall of 2014 through Mastin Seeds.

Two-row malt barley
CDC Kindersley two-row malting barley yields 106 per cent of AC Metcalfe, matures one day earlier, and has shorter, stronger straw compared to AC Metcalfe. CDC Kindersley also offers improved test weight, kernel weight and per cent plump compared to AC Metcalfe, with an excellent malt quality profile. Available through SeCan Association and under market development by Canadian Maltsters.

Six-row malt barley
CDC Anderson is a six-row malting barley with yield potential 103 per cent of Legacy, shorter stronger straw and earlier maturity. CDC Anderson was recommended as a malt with a malting profile similar to the checks but with lower malt beta-glucan. With strong straw and high grain quality it makes an excellent feed variety with upside potential for malt should the demand arise. Available through SeCan Association.

Oat
CDC Big Brown is a high yielding brown hulled oat with excellent milling quality, good smut and crown rust resistance. Yield potential is 104 per cent of CDC Dancer and 105 per cent of AC Leggett. It has higher per cent plump, lower per cent thins and higher kernel weight than CDC Dancer. Maturity is three days later than CDC Dancer. CDC Big Brown is currently on the list of approved milling varieties for Richardson Milling in Portage la Prairie. Available through SeCan Association.

AC Stride is a high yielding white hulled oat with good smut and crown rust resistance. Yield potential 101 per cent of CDC Dancer, and 104 per cent of AC Leggett in Western Canada in the Coops. AC Stride has medium height, but excellent lodging resistance and is well adapted across the Prairies. Available through SeCan Association and currently under milling evaluation.

Triticale
Brevis has a yield advantage of approximately 10 per cent 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 from Wagon Wheel Seed Corp at Churchbridge, Sask.

Taza is an awnletted (reduced awn expression) standard height triticale line intended for use as a feed grain conserved forage, swath grazing crop and potentially for industrial use. Taza is adapted to the Prairie provinces. Taza yields similar to Pronghorn but is equal to or higher than AC Ultima and AC Certa. This line has good lodging resistance, good test weight and high kernel weight. Taza is MS to MR for FHB resistance; it is resistant to leaf rust and stem rust. Available from Len Solick, Halkirk, Alta.

October 30, 2013  By Bruce Barker

Fourteen new cereal varieties are available in Western Canada for 2014. New cereal varieties with improved yield