The University of Alberta wheat breeding program has registered and commercialized 13 CWRS varieties and one CPS variety since 2013. Sixteen MSc. students (13 graduated); 17 PhD students (14 graduated); 6 Post-Doctoral Fellows; and 3 Visiting Scientists have been involved with the program since 2002. These graduates are working as scientists, biologists, researchers and professors in Alberta, western Canada and globally. The program has published over 130 refereed scientific articles in that time as well.
Read MoreThere is a large amount of economic literature that examines return to investments in public agricultural research in breeding. The predominance of evidence suggests the rate to return to public agricultural research is persistently high across a large number of agricultural subsectors, jurisdictions, and time periods. In Western Canada, there are several studies, including those we have been involved with, that show very high internal rates of return of investments in agricultural applied research and breeding. These returns are easily verified with simple calculations looking at the gross annual research benefit and weighted average increases over time.
Read MoreThis project will identify and catalog the structural variants (SVs) in wheat and canola genome from multiple diverse lines. These variants will be further exploited to identify regions/genes associated with breeder’s traits of interest (yield and/or stress tolerance) and to develop new varieties for better yield and stress tolerance and climate-resilient wheat and canola.
Read MoreThis project aims to evaluate physical control measures for kochia and to better understand the underlying abiotic and biotic ecology within kochia patches to accelerate remediation. Physical control measures for kochia are critically important due to the rapid development and spread of multiple herbicide resistance to Groups 2, 4, and 9 within kochia in western Canada.
Read MoreThis project will focus on the genetic improvement of wheat to increase yield through major yield contributing factors such as grain number, grain weight, spike fertility, optimal partitioning to grain, and improved grain filling (“spike traits”). The research will explore the wheat lines that the team has already developed with specific spike traits along with the additional resources representing land races, genotypes, and germplasm collections of CIMMYT.
Read MoreFungal pathogens, such as Fusarium and rust fungi (stripe, leaf, and stem), are major threats to wheat production, grain safety, and food security in Canada and worldwide. The disease monitoring programs at the Canadian Grain Commission and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada monitor for Fusarium and rust fungi on wheat, which provides important information to improve disease management practices. Current methods for biotyping microbes in wheat are time consuming, laborious, and expensive.
Read MoreThe primary objective of this study is to improve the governance and decision-making process of producer controlled organizations (PCOs) in the agriculture sector by providing knowledge about the following questions: how are research allocation decisions made in some of the key PCOs in Australia, Canada and the US and who makes the decisions in these producer-led entities?
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