Collaborator/Funder: Alberta Wheat Commission
Research Program Manager: Dr Akim Omokanye
From: Peace Country Beef & Forage Association 2018 Annual Report
Background
Variety selection plays an important role in wheat yield potential. Regardless of whether a producer intends to seed one cultivar or several on the farm, it is important to start out with a list of several good candidates. The final product of interest is grain yield and therefore, it is crucial to select cultivars that have shown consistent performance in the region. Wheat cultivars differ in their straw strength. No-till producers in the Peace might be looking for tall varieties with good straw production potential to help improve water retention in the soil, so this could also play a role in selecting a cultivar.
In the Peace region, droughts are a recurring feature of the climate and can be expected in any part of the region. While very severe and prolonged droughts are rare, they do occur. Therefore, testing and selecting cultivars with high water use efficiency is essential to helping producers obtain better economic returns. Furthermore, producers need accurate, regional, and current variety information to stay competitive. This project was used as an effective tool for testing some of the common spring hard red wheat cultivars in the Peace Country growing environment.
Objectives
To assess the grain yield and grain quality of some hard red spring wheat varieties commonly grown in Fairview and surrounding areas.
Project Design
Project site: The field demonstration was carried out at the Fairview Research Farm on RR#35, MD of Fairview. The site was under alfalfa hay for >10 years before being sprayed out and plowed in the fall of 2017. It was disced and harrowed in 2018 before seeding. The site was a uniform and well-drained field, with no low areas, and no known infestation of quackgrass, Canada thistle or herbicide tolerant weeds. The surface soil characteristics from 0-6” depth and rainfall information for Fairview are provided in Table 1.
Experimental design: Randomized complete block design with four replications.