Canadian National Wheat Cluster: Activity 2 – Improving profitability of hard red spring wheat for eastern Canada through superior grain yields, Fusarium head blight resistance and improved end-use quality
Principal Investigator: Andrew Burt
Research Institution: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Objectives:
- To develop Canada Eastern Hard Red Spring wheat cultivars with 10% higher grain yield than AAC Scotia with similar maturity and protein content, shorter stature with improved lodging resistance, improved Fusarium Head Blight resistance (FHB scores 10% less than AAC Scotia), and resistance to powdery mildew similar to AAC Scotia.
Impacts:
- Higher performing spring wheat varieties for farmers increases their productivity and sustainability of crop rotations.
Scientific Summary:
This Canadian National Wheat Cluster activity funds the spring wheat breeding activities conducted at the AAFC Ottawa Research and Development Centre (RDC). The Ottawa based program conducts spring wheat breeding activities at the Ottawa RDC and at the Harrington Research Farm, part of the Charlottetown RDC.
The program produces spring wheat varieties for Eastern Canada, including growing regions in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The requirements of growers in these regions are improved yield, lodging resistance, high levels of Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) resistance, powdery mildew resistance, and improved milling quality. For many growers in these regions, abundant straw is also an important trait, for on-farm use or for sale locally with multiple end-uses including animal bedding or inclusion in dairy feed. The breeding target for this program is, by 2023, to develop Canada Eastern Hard Red Spring wheat cultivars with 10% higher grain yield than AAC Scotia with similar maturity and protein content, shorter stature with improved lodging resistance, improved Fusarium Head Blight resistance (FHB scores 10% less than AAC Scotia), and resistance to powdery mildew similar to AAC Scotia.
Results:
The AAFC Ottawa spring wheat breeding program has been rebuilding since Dr. Burt starting in 2018 and is close to a full pipeline of new material for variety development. In additional to ongoing work at all earlier generations of the breeding program during the five years of this project, several lines have been entered into one or more of the Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime registration trials for final evaluations.
Active registration trial entries overview:
Trial | Advanced to 2023 | |||||
Line | Year | ON | QC | Maritime | Notes | |
ECSW237 | 3 | No | Yes | No | Supported for registration | Very good combination of yield, FHB resistance; poor flour yield and other traits mean this will be marketed as a feed wheat in the special purpose class |
ECSW244 | 3 | No | Yes | No | Supported for registration | Good combination of yield, FHB resistance and acceptable end use quality in the QC region |
AW952 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2nd year Maritimes
| Good yield and FHB resistance, poorer quality in ON and QC |
AW961 | 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | 2nd year QC | Good yield, good FHB resistance, tall and lower protein |
Two lines were supported for registration at the 2023 Quebec Cereal Registration Recommending Committee based on data from the trials in 2020-2022. ECSW237 was supported as a feed (Special Purpose) wheat and ECSW244 was supported as a milling (Canada Eastern Red Spring) wheat at the Quebec Cereal Registration Committee meeting. Both lines were picked up by Synagri for marketing. Breeder seed will be produced in 2023, and the lines will move towards registration, application for plant breeders’ rights, and towards commercial seed production. ECSW237 will be registered as AAC Nantic and ECSW244 as AAC Atea.
External Funding Partners:
This activity was funded in part by the Government of Canada under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership’s AgriScience Program, with industry support from the Canadian Field Crop Research Alliance (CFCRA) members, including: Atlantic Grains Council; Producteurs de gains du Quebec; Grain Farmers of Ontario; and SeCan.
Project Related Publications:
None.