Alberta farmers are sometimes reluctant to grow peas because of fluctuating yields.
So a research team from Alberta Agriculture has been examining some factors that can be controlled to ensure more stable yields.
Stan Blade, a pulse researcher with the province, said average pea yields in Alberta fluctuated by more than 30 percent from year to year between 1986 and 1997.
In seven of the 11 years, the difference in yield was at least 10 percent, he told researchers at a recent pulse workshop.
During the same period, canola had a maximum 20 percent difference in average yields, and a fluctuation of less than 10 percent in eight of the 11 crop years.
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Some of the yield difference in peas is due to climate, but production practices are also to blame, said Blade.
At 20 sites in northeastern Alberta and the Peace River region, researchers tested pea yields relative to production factors like seeding date, seeding rate, herbicide timing and use of fungicides.
Results are preliminary, said Blade, but point to some interesting trends:
- When seeded in the first week of May, pea yields were higher 43 percent of the time.
- Early seeding did not make a difference to yield 29 percent of the time.
- Achieving the recommended plant density of at least 75 plants per square metre made a different to yield 50 percent of the time.
- Seeding rate made no difference to yield 42 percent of the time.
“It makes you wonder how we set our recommendations,” said Blade, who noted a higher density generally reduces production risks.
Spraying early increased yields by an average of 57 percent, 67 percent of the time. But using fungicides made no difference to yields.
Guy Lafond, researcher with Agriculture Canada in Indian Head, Sask., said his research has also shown there’s little benefit to treating pea seed with fungicide, even in plots where peas have been grown on peas continuously.
“I think this crop has tremendous resiliency,” said Lafond.
But in parts of Manitoba, where disease pressure is high due to climate, fungicide is critical for peas, noted Campbell Davidson of Agriculture Canada’s Morden Research Centre.
