Can farmer-saved seed of wheat perform as well as certified seed?

  • Term:  3 years, beginning 2019

  • Status: Complete (CLICK HERE to read the performance report)

  • Funding Amount: $271,985

  • Lead Researcher(s): Mike Hall (East Central Research Foundation, Yorkton, SK)

  • Funding Partners: N/A

Project Description

The main goal of this project is to compare the yield, and economics of using certified wheat seed to farmer-saved seed of same varieties under Saskatchewan field conditions.

The recently published “Overview of Certified Seed and Farmer Saved Seed” by the Economics and Competitiveness Branch of the Alberta Government makes an educated guess of a 1.5 bushel/ac benefit from using certified seed. However, no citation is provided to support this assumption. Thus, this study is designed to compare the vigor, and yield performance of various lots of farmer-saved wheat seed relative to the same varieties of certified seed; to determine the degree to which seed treatment (likely Raxil pro) can improve the vigor, and yield potential of farmer saved and certified seed lots of wheat; and to determine if seed treatment improves vigor and yield potential of farmer-saved wheat seed relative to certified seed.

This research will be conducted at the eight Agri-ARM sites in Saskatchewan over three years to understand the relative performance of certified seed over farmer-saved seed.

Agronomy, Seeding, ProductionSask Wheat2018-2019, All Projects, Completed Projects