Prairie farmers hoping to cash in on surging feed prices this year should take a close look at their seed supplies before anything goes in the ground.
Bruce Carriere, owner of Discovery Seed Labs in Saskatoon, said his lab has tested an unusually high number of barley samples with poor germination levels this spring.
In particular, seed barley that was carried over from last spring and stored in bins over the summer should be retested before planting.
“The carryover barley is absolutely terrible,” Carriere said.
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“It’s probably averaging 25 to 30 percent (germination). A year ago, the germination might have been in the high 80s or low 90s but some of it was put away tough and over the course of last summer, with the heat that we had, the bins started to sweat and the germination popped on it.”
According to Carriere, 80 percent of the carryover barley that Discovery Labs has tested in the past few months has shown a dramatic reduction in germination.
“It’s huge,” he said.
“There’s a lot of guys that did germ tests last spring and are expecting it to be the same again this year, but it’s not going to happen.”
Carriere said some certified seed growers who thought they had bins full of viable barley seed are being forced to sell into feed markets.
Farmers who cleaned common seed should also take steps to ensure their seed is viable, especially if barley went into the bin with a slightly high moisture content.
Barley that went into storage a point or a point and a half tough is prone to germination problems.
“Storage of barley is critical, especially when you get … a hot summer,” Carriere said. “The bins heat up and cool down and as they heat up, the (germination) pops.”
Morgan Webb, lab manager at Seed Check Technologies in Leduc, Alta., said his lab has noticed germination problems in seed barley harvested in 2005 and 2006.
“Germinations are low, especially in some of the malting barley varieties. A spring check is a really good idea,” Webb said.
“We’ve seen some carryover samples that were harvested five years ago that are still germinating quite well but for barley harvested in the last two years (2005 and 2006), germination is just terrible.”
Webb said many samples submitted by certified seed growers are testing in the 60 to 70 percent germination range.
To be sold as No. 1 certified seed, barley must exceed 85 percent germination at the time of sale. The threshold for No. 2 is 75 percent.
Webb said germination levels are generally higher in samples originating from southern Saskatchewan and southern Alberta.
“I think they had better harvest conditions in those areas for the last couple of years so those samples seem to be holding their germs better than some other areas.”
Germination levels in feed peas should also be monitored closely, especially if peas were harvested at low moisture levels.
“Because of the hot, dry summer we had last year, a lot of people had to harvest their peas at a very low moisture level,” said Carriere.
“Initial germs are coming back at 85 to 90 percent, but every time you move those peas, you’re causing a little more damage to them.”
Carriere said it’s not uncommon to see germination levels drop 25 to 30 percent in peas that are cleaned after testing.
“If you’re getting peas cleaned, you’re pulling them out of the bin, into a truck, into a leg or another auger, through the cleaner, back into another auger and into the truck, into the auger again and back into the bin,” he said. “By the time it’s all done, we’re seeing germs dropping (significantly).”
