CARMAN, Man. – The June heat wave not only caused stress to Manitoba farmers and their crops, but it also put unusual pressure on new crop varieties that are going through the testing process.
Take winter wheat for example. The co-operative test plots at the University of Manitoba’s field research station at Carman are “not looking particularly fantastic,” said wheat breeder Anita BrulŽ-Babel.
The test plots got off to a good start in the spring, and had excellent winter survival, BrulŽ-Babel said. But when they started heading out, they were hit with five days of 35-39 C weather and high winds.
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Except for some lines that are built for the heat, most plants did not fill out properly.
But one problem researchers won’t have is lodging. Norstar, a variety often criticized for its lodging problems, reached only 78 centimetres compared to its usual 120 cm. CDC Kestrel is also shorter: it can grow to 95 cm, but is only 76 cm in the Carman plots.
“You can tell that we’ve really had a stress situation here,” BrulŽ-Babel told producers on a recent tour of the field station.
