Mustard researchers are gearing up for a foot race of sorts with their canola counterparts.
Pete Desai, president of Mustard 21 Canada, which manages research funding from government and industry partners, said the long-term goal is to attain 85 percent of the yields achieved by canola, whose funding dwarfs what mustard receives.
It’s a 50 to 75 increase from what growers are seeing now, he said last week at Crop Production Week.
Mustard yields averaged 944 pounds per acre in 2013, according to Statistics Canada.
The yields are the highest in a decade, but the specialty crop hasn’t seen the same incremental growth as other crops.
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“It’s becoming very obvious that if we are going to stay in the condiment business and maintain our position as a global supplier, then we absolutely have to increase yields,” said Desai.
The Canola Council of Canada recently announced its yield objectives, targeting an average of 52 bu. per acre by 2025.
Desai said a more diverse germplasm, the introduction of synthetic hybrid varieties and improved agro-nomy can help mustard remain a competitive cropping choice in the dry areas of Saskatchewan where mustard is grown.
The biggest yield gains, as high as 20 and 25 percent, will come first.
It can take eight to 10 years to bring a new variety to market. The first of these, funded through the federal government’s first Growing Forward initiative, could be on the market in two years, said Desai.
“The first few would be big jumps, but then obviously you would have smaller jumps,” he said.
“It’s not that out of line.”
Long-term funding has been identified as a concern, but Mustard 21 has received another round of funding through Growing Forward 2.
Desai said research efforts don’t favour condiment (yellow and brown) or industrial carinata development.
“We’re not saying we want to do one only,” he said.
“We’re saying both have to get going because the technologies would apply to both of them.”
Limited herbicide options make production agronomy another re-search target.
Eric Johnson of Agriculture Canada told growers that breeders are developing novel herbicide tolerance for the crop.
They are avoiding genetic modification and instead will use mutagenesis, the same technique used to produce resistance to Clearfield herbicides in canola.
“It’s really starting to show some promise over the last year, and now we’re going to move into juncea (brown mustard),” said Johnson.
“If they can make the progress that they’re making with napus in juncea, I’m pretty optimistic that we’ll get something.”
He said breeders will try to introduce tolerance to fluroxypyr in carinata and brown mustard varieties and stack it with Group 2 resistance.
Fluroxypyr is a Group 4 herbicide ingredient not sold as a standalone product in Canada.
Concerning yellow varieties, he said officials may pursue a registration for the Group 4 herbicide dicamba.
