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Registration
Canada has a strict registration process for wheat cultivars. For
a new wheat cultivar to be registered in a particular class, it must
meet the quality and kernel distinguishability requirements for the
class and be at least equal to the current cultivars in agronomic
characters. These requirements have made it very difficult for
prairie wheat breeders to produce new cultivars. However,
registration has been important in maintaining the reputation of
Canadian wheat. When buyers purchase a cargo of wheat of a particular
class, they know exactly what they are going to receive.
Wheat Breeding and Research
In the early years, wheat breeding and research were carried out
by what is now Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). As Colleges
of Agriculture developed at the universities, several of them
initiated wheat breeding programs. All three provincial universities
on the prairies, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, carry out wheat
research. Appropriately, the major wheatgrowing province,
Saskatchewan has the strongest program. The University of Guelph in
Ontario has a winter wheat breeding program.
When Plant Breeders Rights were enacted in Canada in 1991, it
provided a stimulus for wheat breeding by private companies. Several
now have programs in Canada, often as an offshoot of their programs
in the U.S.A. Nevertheless, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is still
the largest player in wheat research in Canada. On the prairies,
AAFC's wheat research centres are at Lethbridge, Alberta, Swift
Current, Saskatchewan (to be visited on the post-conference tour) and
Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Rust Research
Leaf and stem rust are major diseases of wheat wherever the crop
is grown in North America, and particularly in the central great
plains. Stripe rust is a problem in the western states of the U.S.A.
but in Canada it is of minor importance only in southwestern Alberta
and southern British Columbia.
The centre for rust research in Canada is the world renowned Dominion
Rust Laboratory (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada) established in
Winnipeg in 1925. The early scientists at the Rust Lab did pioneering
work on the life cycle, epidemiology, biological specialization and
inheritance of resistance, particularly for stem rust. Over the years
the Rust Lab (now the Cereal Research Centre) has produced most of
the rust resistant wheat cultivars grown on the prairies. In more
recent years, the Centre has developed strong programs in molecular
biology and genetic engineering. It is also a centre for work on
other wheat diseases such as smut, bunt, leaf diseases and scab.
In 1952, Canada Agriculture provided a grant to the University of
Saskatchewan to study resistance to a devastating new race of stem
rust, 15B-1. Essentially all Canadian cultivars of common and durum
wheat at that time were susceptible. A major epidemic of both leaf
and stem rust occurred in 1954. The program at the University of
Saskatchewan focussed on identifying genes for resistance,
transferring genes to wheat from its relatives and producing
near-isogenic lines carrying single genes for resistance.
Wheat Stem Sawfly
In the drier areas of the prairies, southwestern Saskatchewan and
southern Alberta, the wheat stem sawfly can be a major problem. The
sawfly deposits eggs in the stem, the larvae move down to the base of
the plant and girdle the stem. The stems then break over and are
almost impossible to pick up and harvest. The solution is to breed
cultivars with solid stems which inhibit the movement of the larvae
and cause them to starve. Breeding for resistance began at the
Lethbridge Research Station and was later transferred to the Swift
Current Research Station. With the development of resistant
cultivars, the insect is now under control.
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