Crop Production Week | Midge tolerant wheat blends accounted for 10 percent of wheat acres
Uptake of midge tolerant wheat blends continues to grow among prairie wheat producers.
According to the Canadian Wheat Board’s 2011 variety survey, midge tolerant blends accounted for nearly 10 percent of Western Canada’s total wheat acreage in 2011.
That’s an impressive number, considering the first blends didn’t hit the commercial seed market until 2010.
“In two years, to be able to take 10 percent of the total wheat acreage, that’s a pretty amazing statistic,” said Todd Hyra, SeCan’s business manager for Western Canada.
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“The performance continues to be there, the new products are doing what we were expecting them to do and growers seem to appreciate the technology.”
This year will be the third year of commercial production for midge tolerant wheat.
Four varietal blends were available to commercial growers last year.
Three more will be available this spring, bringing the total to seven.
Of those, five are red spring varieties.
Midge tolerant wheat blends contain a combination of midge tolerant seeds and midge susceptible, or refuge seeds.
Depending on the product, about 85 to 95 percent of the seeds in a blend are midge tolerant.
The other five to 15 percent are midge susceptible.
The system, known as an interspersed refuge, is designed to protect against the development of mutant insects.
Growers who use the varietal blends are surveyed annually to monitor the performance of the products.
In 2010, 86 percent of farmers who planted midge tolerant wheat said the varieties met or exceeded their expectations.
Canadian Wheat Board agronomist Mike Grenier said results from the CWB’s latest variety survey suggest that producers see value in planting midge tolerant wheat products.
The survey listed midge-tolerant Unity VB as the third most popular hard red spring variety grown in Western Canada.
It accounted for 6.6 percent of overall prairie acreage and 13.7 of CWRS acreage in Saskatchewan.
In pre-registration testing, midge tolerant varieties showed a yield advantage of roughly five percent over comparable midge susceptible varieties.
“I expect that they (midge tolerant blends) are going to continue on a pretty steep adoption trend,” Grenier said.
“But we would like to hear a bit more producer feedback as to how these varieties are performing out on the landscape.”
Les Trowell, president of the Saskatchewan Seed Growers Association, said demand for midge tolerant wheat among commercial growers has been strong.
In some areas of the province there are concerns about erosion of the refuge component.
On some pedigreed seed farms, the proportion of refuge seeds dropped significantly from one season to the next.
Seed growers who plan to sell certified midge tolerant seed must test their seed stocks to ensure that the refuge variety falls within an acceptable range.
But in some cases, lab tests have produced results with significant variations.
“There has been some variability in results and it has caused some (seed) growers grief,” said Trowell.
“They get the test … (results) back and the refuge falls outside of the range of tolerance that they were expecting. That may or may not affect what they were hoping to market.”
Many factors can affect the refuge component in blended wheat seed.
Those factors include seed size, midge pressure, sampling procedures, climate and agronomic conditions.
Factors in the lab can also affect test results.
Phillip Stephan, business manager for the Saskatchewan Research Council’s Genserv Laboratories, told seed growers that systems are being improved and factors that have the potential to skew test results are being identified and addressed.
A stewardship team is also conducting research to determine how long refuge varieties remain in varietal blends that are harvested and replanted.
Researchers are fairly certain that the proportion of refuge seeds diminishes each time a subsequent generation of seed is harvested and replanted.
The research, now in its fourth year, will help measure that reduction to develop new policies.
Trowell said loss of the refuge component in certified seed blends is not a widespread problem in Saskatchewan but it can have a significant financial impact on individual seed growers.
If the refuge drops below acceptable limits, the seed growers’ only option is to sell the seed as commercial grain or reblend the product.
“Seed growers can buy refuge variety and reblend but before they do that they should always retest,” Trowell said.
