In order to support a demand for increasing wheat yields, improvement of existing breeding tools is necessary. Isolated microspore culture (IMC) is one such tool that has the potential to rapidly accelerate breeding efforts. The goal of this project has been to increase productivity of the IMC-mediated doubled haploid (DH) production pipeline in wheat
Read MoreThe study objective was to survey glyphosate-resistant and dicamba-resistant kochia within Manitoba in 2018, Saskatchewan in 2019, and Alberta in 2021. Kochia seed was collected at approximately 300 sites in each province. Samples were threshed and seeded in the greenhouse then sprayed with labeled doses of glyphosate or dicamba then evaluated after 3 or 4 weeks, respectively.
Read MoreIn late 2018, the Agri-Arm group devised a study to compare the quality and performance of certified wheat seed against farm-saved seed (FSS). Farm-saved seed is the producer’s own seed which they clean and use as a seed source for their own farm, because it is cheaper than buying certified seed. Historically, the majority of wheat acres in western Canada are seeded with FSS. Producers will typically introduce better genetics by purchasing certified seed and then use FSS after that for a few years. SaskWheat wanted to know if this was a best practice or whether certified seed should be used more often because it may be better quality, more productive seed. A fair comparison between certified and FSS would require the generation of a lot of data. To this end, the project involved all 8 Agri-Arm locations in Saskatchewan and was funded for 3 years (2019-2021).
Read MoreResidue management is a significant challenge for producers on a year-to-year basis. Uneven and poorly distributed residues can lead to many complications for producers, such as uneven seed depth the following spring, blocked drill openers, and uneven plant stands and emergence. Because Western Canadian producers often seasonally rotate wheat and canola crops, it is important to have a better understanding of how wheat residue management can affect the emergence of canola in a rotation. The objective of this research was to analyze canola emergence and yield based on different wheat residue harvest management strategies.
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