Grant ensures testing of newest grain crop varieties

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

Saskatchewan producers will again have the opportunity to evaluate and compare the newest grain varieties for production on their farms.

This opportunity is made possible by an industry/government partnership. For the third year, Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food (SAF) has provided the partnership with a $100,000 grant.
An entry fee system is then used in which variety owners or companies with the distribution rights to a particular variety pay a portion of the cost of having the variety tested. The Saskatchewan Seed Growers Association (SSGA) also makes a financial contribution to the program.

The committee that administers the program is the Saskatchewan Variety Performance Group (SVPG). The committee is composed of representatives from organizations with an interest in providing variety testing information. Public and private research institutions conduct the testing and compile the data.

“The program creates a database providing producers with independent, comparative information on the varieties they grow,” says Blaine Recksiedler, the Cereal and Organic Crops Specialist with SAF. “The published results, including data from the co-op trials (pre-registration), present information on yield and agronomics and on certain market-related traits valuable to producers. Comparisons are made to a commonly grown check variety.”

“It has been indicated that producers value third-party variety testing as an important source of information when making cropping decisions,” added Recksiedler.

Testing requires several steps. First, trials are conducted using uniform protocols and standard check varieties. Second, data are collected from as many sites as are available and statistically analyzed. Third, results are aggregated over a number of years and on an area basis.

Variety trials are designed to measure the yield differences that are due to genetic causes while minimizing variability due to non-genetic factors such as moisture, temperature, transpiration, weeds, diseases and pests.

SeCan Association will administer the funding for SVPG. As well, crop co-ordinators will manage the data and provide expertise in their respective crops.

The results of the testing are then reviewed by the Council on Grain Crops, which also updates disease and other agronomic information, and approves the data prior to publication.

Producers will be able to access this information in early January during Crop Production Week in the Varieties of Grain Crops publication, which is also found in SaskSeed, the SSGA’s seed guide.

Crops in the SVPG program include wheat, barley, oats and flax; however, the SAF grant also provides support to organizations that are testing other crop varieties, including canola, pulses, winter wheat, sunflowers and canary seed. Variety information for these crops is also provided in the Varieties of Grain Crops.

For more information, contact:
Blaine Recksiedler, Cereal and Organic Crops Specialist
Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
Phone: (306) 787-4664
E-mail: brecksiedler@agr.gov.sk.ca