WINNIPEG – Variety may be the spice of life, but too much of it can be frustrating.
Peter Entz, a pulse crops agronomist with Manitoba Agriculture, said more than 100 new varieties have been registered in Western Canada in the past two years and that can cause problems for farmers.
“The explosion of new varieties can cause a lot of headaches,” he told a recent agronomists’ conference here.
Entz said the trend is likely to continue, judging by the numbers of varieties in their third and final year of testing last summer. He said 15 pea varieties could be registered in February and available in 1997.
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Faced with these choices, Entz said farmers should ask two fundamental questions.
First, he said farmers should ask themselves: Do I fix it even though it’s not broken?
“I think producers tend to get locked into a variety that they’re comfortable with and they know how to grow based on their management,” Entz said, adding that new varieties don’t come with instructions.
“There’s limited information regarding how producers maybe need to manage a variety to ensure optimal yield and quality.”
New varieties would seem less risky if seed companies and distributors included information on seeding rates and dates, swathing and harvest dates, and how the variety responds to fertilizer or herbicides.
Is it better?
Entz said the second question farmers should ask is: How do I find those superior varieties?
He said yield is one way to measure performance and the good news is the long-term trend for yield is increasing.
He looked at canola yield data from western Canadian co-op tests, Manitoba crop variety tests and Canola Council of Canada tests and found there are several higher-yielding varieties. However, he noted not all new varieties lead to higher yields.
Entz told those at the conference that management techniques have more affect on yield than variety. “It’s only a variety. There’s a bunch of other things that come to play in terms of growing a high-yielding crop.”
Disease resistance is important. Entz said two new canola varieties, LG 3310 and Quantum, are moderately resistant to blackleg. In lentils, CDC Matador and CDC Redwing show resistance to ascochyta blight.
But new varieties of hulless barley and oats are susceptible to stem rust and there is nothing more resistant than the standards in triticale, durum and peas.
“Although there’s new varieties entering the market, they’re not bringing us anything in terms of the disease package,” Entz said.
Maturity is another indicator. Entz said new varieties mature at different rates.
Some of the new varieties have different seed sizes and special traits that can help producers get into non-traditional markets.
“Really, this birth of all these varieties has given the whole industry a tremendous leap forward,” he said.
