Wheat Improvement at

AAFC for Atlantic Canada

Dan MacEachern

Allan Cummiskey

Dr. Gavin Humphreys

Outline

• Stripe Rust

• Winter Wheat update for Maritimes

• Canadian Agri-Partnerships Wheat Cluster

applications: Winter and Spring wheat (2018-2023)

• Spring Wheat Update

• Dr. Shahrokh Khanizadeh retirement

• New Spring wheat breeder at ORDC

Stripe Rust

Stripe Rust Article:

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/

field/news/croptalk/2017/ct-1117a1.htm

New Lines and Varieties

TABLE ww. 2017 MARITIME WINTER WHEAT REGISTRATION - RECOMMENDATION TEST SUMMARY**

Cultivar Status Site Yield Test 1000 Height Head. Matur. Surv. Mildew Leaf Leaf DON FHB Straw

yrs weight kwt sept. Rust index yield

(yld) Rank (t/ha) (kg/hl) (gm) (cm) (Days)* (Days)* (%) (0-9) (0-9) (0-9) (ppm) (%) (t/ha)

AC Sampson c 3 22 4.67 75.8 36.6 94 20 59 95 1.8 5.0 2.8 0.3 15.0 4.2

Cruze 3 3 11 5.92 78.7 33.8 86 14 60 96 1.5 6.0 3.1 0.3 21.8 5.1

CM614 5 3 12 5.74 80.2 37.7 97 16 59 93 1.1 4.0 2.2 0.3 15.0 5.0

Harvard 5 3 14 5.62 81.0 42.3 93 17 60 93 2.0 3.8 0.2 0.3 23.5 6.1

WW 144 1 3 9 6.10 77.7 42.7 117 21 60 96 1.7 3.5 1.5 0.3 6.8 6.5

Grand mean 5.57 77.3 36.8 94 17 59 94 1.2 4.3 2.1 0.3 25.8 5.1

SEM 0.70 1.19 1.94 2.50 0.50 1.60 4.40 0.60 0.82 1.30 * * 0.42

LSD 2.09 3.57 5.81 7.40 1.50 4.80 13.20 1.80 2.46 3.89 * * 1.27

Site Years 3 3 3 3 3 2 3 3 2 2 1 1 2

Going Forward

• Last winter wheat crosses were conducted in Harrington in 2008. New CAP proposal will equate to renewed breeding efforts.

• Aim is to continue a program targeting local adaptation• delivery of new winter wheat cultivars with high grain

yield, superior disease resistance and improved winter survival

Canadian Agri-Partnerships: Update

• LOIs submitted from AAFC (Ottawa & Charlottetown)

for eastern spring and winter wheat breeding submitted

in Dec. 2016

• Both Spring and Winter proposals invited to submit full

proposal for wheat cluster in Feb. 2017

• ORDC (AAFC-Ottawa) will lead spring and winter wheat

breeding in collaboration with AAFC-Charlottetown

• Proposals peer reviewed in Summer 2017 and revised

final proposals are due Dec. 2017

Retirement of S. Khanizadeh

• Shahrokh took over eastern AAFC spring wheat

program in 2012

• Registered 2 varieties

• - EC0387-2 (Sword) & AW 725 (AAC Fairwind)

• Retirement Spring 2018

New Research Scientist for Spring Wheat Improvement

• Competition underway to hire new Research Scientist

for AAFC eastern spring wheat improvement program

• New scientist will be based on Central Experimental

Farm-Ottawa but collaborate with groups in Quebec (i.e.

CEROM) and AAFC-Charlottetown

• Position has been advertised and candidates selected

• Breeder expected to join ORDC in 2018

New Spring Wheat Varieties

TABLE SW. MARITIME SPRING WHEAT REGISTRATION - RECOMMENDATION TEST - FOUR YEAR YIELD SUMMARY - 2014 - 2017

Yield (t/ha)

Site Yields Yield Rankings

Cultivar Harr Hart Cann Trur Mean Harr Hart Cann Trur Mean

Checks

AAC SCOTIA 3.24 3.46 4.05 4.51 3.82 1 4 1 2 2AC HELENA 2.92 3.85 3.80 4.38 3.73 3 1 3 3 3AC WALTON 2.53 3.12 2.94 4.11 3.18 4 5 4 4 4NASS 2.15 3.47 2.82 3.76 3.05 5 3 5 5 5

Fourth Year Cultivar

% yield increase 18 7 18 21 16AW 780 3.21 3.71 4.02 5.05 4.00 2 2 2 1 1

Check Mean 2.71 3.48 3.4 4.19 3.45

Site Years 4 4 4 4 16

New Varieties

TABLE SW. MARITIME SPRING WHEAT REGISTRATION - RECOMMENDATION TEST - FOUR YEAR SUMMARY - 2014 - 2017

Cultivar Status Site Yield Test 1000 Height Lodg. Head. Matur. Mildew Leaf Leaf DON FHB Straw

yrs wt kwt sept. rust Index Yield

(yld) Rank (t/ha) (kg/hl) (gm) (cm) (0-9) (days) (days) (0-9) (0-9) (0-9) (ppm) (%) (t/ha)

AAC SCOTIA c 16 4 3.82 75.6 36.6 101 2.1 59 95 0.3 5.2 2.0 0.5 3.4 3.7

AC HELENA c 16 5 3.72 75.2 35.4 92 1.8 57 92 0.7 4.3 4.0 1.2 21.2 2.8

AC WALTON c 16 13 3.18 74.0 34.2 92 1.0 58 94 0.9 5.3 2.6 0.8 12.4 2.6

NASS c 16 14 3.03 73.5 31.9 96 2.3 59 94 1.2 4.3 2.8 0.9 11.7 3.1

AW 780 4 16 3 3.99 75.6 35.8 102 3.3 58 94 0.2 4.7 1.7 0.6 11.4 3.5

Grand mean 3.68 73.8 36.0 96 1.8 58 95 0.8 4.3 2.0 1.1 10.0 3.4

SEM 0.13 0.49 0.61 1.00 0.37 0.30 0.80 0.29 0.29 0.51 0.25 3.73 0.22

LSD 0.39 1.46 1.83 3.00 1.12 0.80 2.40 0.86 0.86 1.54 0.74 11.18 0.67

Site Years 16 16 16 16 8 16 8 7 8 8 13 3 8

Thank you!Allan Cummiskey

Chris Fleming

Dr. Adam Foster