Variety development | Officials take Canadian mustard to Chile to help improve crop
Canadian mustard has been sent south for the winter to speed the development of new varieties.
Canadian plant breeders have long made use of southern nurseries, but mustard remains a relatively new project in Chile, where Daryl Males has been taking Canadian mustard seed for three years.
The Canadian mustard industry has set a goal of maintaining mustard yields equal to 85 percent of canola, which is an aggressive target for a crop that has traditionally received minimal funding and yield gains.
Breeding efforts are funded by industry partners and Growing Forward 2 and conducted by a small number of private and public officials.
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The introduction of synthetic hybrid varieties and improved agronomy has led officials to believe that the target is attainable, with yield gains of 20 to 25 percent expected soon.
Variety development is a lengthy process, and the introduction of a second growing season in Chile is designed to reduce that time.
“If you can deliver in five years, like the canolas have before with new varieties, … instead of 10 or 12, that’s a huge gain in pushing things into the marketplace faster and turning over innovation at an ever increasing speed, which is what we’re now asking for in mustards,” said Males, who works in breeding and variety development with Agrisoma, which contracts acres of the industrial mustard carinata.
Males has a lengthy career in developing crop varieties and working in Chile. He also works with condiment mustard varieties with Mustard 21 Canada, which manages research funding from government and industry.
Males said 20 acres of Canadian mustard were seeded in Chilean nurseries this year, covering commercial and condiment seed. He said they work with operators in the Temuco area, which most closely resembles Western Canada.
“We don’t need huge acres unless we start doing foundation or certified production down there,” he said.
Cheaper labour, as well as steady temperatures between 16 and 23 C, make the country an ideal area to reliably replicate seed and make varietal selections.
“As we bring these new mustards to market, we will save four to five years in getting them to producers’ hands,” he said.
Plots can be seeded between August and December and seed returned to Canada for the spring.
“That’s the No. 1 reason you choose Chile, because of those windows at the front end and the back end,” said Males.
“I’ve tried Australia, New Zealand, Arizona, California, and you could theoretically do South Africa and some other places, but that window of opportunity for seeding and for harvest doesn’t exist anywhere else.”
Males said competition for the best land and growers can be stiff in Chile from other crops such as canola and soybeans, as well as from cash crops, fruits and vegetables.
“The prices go up, but so does the learning curve and the management skills they’re applying to our crops,” said Males.
“So it’s been a pretty fair trade off, I would have to say, for improved delivery of services and crops to us and how our expectations are able to rise for them.… Herbicide resistant types of mustards, they’re starting to become a pretty important partner as we go down that road.”
