KELOWNA, B.C. – Canola seed companies and the Canola Council of Canada hope that farmers will see resurrected prairie canola variety evaluation trials for 2011.
Representatives from seed companies said last week that efforts to resurrect the trials are progressing.
However, delays in establishing test protocols, selecting 2011 trial sites, determining how data should be presented and identifying growers to manage plots could result in trials being postponed for a second consecutive year.
Denise Maurice, a canola council official who is spearheading efforts to revive the trials, said establishing deadlines is critical to ensuring that plots are seeded next year and that relevant variety trial data can be distributed to canola producers by the fall of 2011.
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At the Canadian Seed Trade Association’s annual meeting in Kelowna recently, Maurice said canola growers support the concept of a revamped trial program.
However, they also want to ensure that trial data is fair and want a large number of commercial varieties included in the trials rather than just new varieties.
Farmers also want assurances that seeding and harvesting systems used on the trials are similar to those used on commercial grain farms.
“They (growers) want third party, independent testing so that they can be confident what is being executed reflects a fair comparison of varieties,” Maurice said.
Until this year, prairie canola variety evaluation trials had been conducted annually.
Data collected from the trials, which is normally made available in late fall, is a key source of information available to canola growers.
However, the program was suspended last year after major seed companies raised concerns, primarily over the size of the trial plots and the management systems used to control weeds.
They argued that the small-scale plots normally used in the trials do not accurately reflect the performance of new canola varieties.
Some companies are advocating a move to larger, farmer-seeded field-scale trials. That would require a larger land base, but the companies believe it would produce more accurate data.
The seed companies also want the trials to use different management systems that would better reflect the agronomic performance of new herbicide tolerant canola varieties.
Canola variety trials have traditionally used small-plot, weed-free management systems, meaning all varieties were seeded over a small area and managed identically.
Only conventional herbicides and conventional weed control strategies are used. Roundup Ready varieties are not treated with glyphosate, Liberty Link varieties are not treated with glufosinate and Clearfield varieties are not treated with Odyssey or other herbicides registered for use on Clearfield production systems.
The canola council and industry stakeholders have started a review of trial procedures.
As well, some companies are participating in a trial systems study intended to compare the merits of small-scale, mid-scale and field scale trials.
Brad Ewankiw of Bayer CropScience, said the industry-led initiative hopes to determine which process provides the most meaningful data.
Herbicide tolerance systems will be used on the mid-and large-scale plots, but variety performance data will not be made public.
Canola seed and seedling vigour test:
The larger the seed size, the better the vigour. The more vigour, the better the seed or seedling is able to cope with early stresses. The following rating system estimates potential seed vigour.
•Seed Vigour Index Rating = (7 day germination percent/100) multiplied by thousand seed weight in grams.
•Typical seed vigour index ratings: Open pollinated: 3-3.5; Hybrids: 3.5-4.5.
If seed has a rating below these ranges, it may be less vigorous and more sensitive to stresses. Managing seeding to reduce stress will be more critical. Growers should seed these lots into warm soils, keep seeding depth shallow and consider seeding at a higher rate.
Source: Canola Council of Canada
