Canterra Seeds expects a new variety of winter wheat, scheduled for broad-scale introduction in the fall of 2014, to be particularly popular in areas of western Canada most susceptible to Fusarium Head Blight.
Canterra Seeds has scheduled the broad-scale introduction of AC Emerson, a new Canadian Western Red Winter milling wheat, developed by Dr. Rob Graf with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge, for the fall of 2014.
Brent Derkatch, the Director of Operations and Business Development with Canterra Seeds, says the new variety is already attracting interest.
The overall agronomic package, as we refer to it, is very very good.
The primary focus is on the disease resistance.
It is the first variety of wheat to be registered in western Canada that has been given an R rating for Fusarium Head Blight but it also has very good resistance to the various races of stem and leaf rust and stripe rust.
From a yield perspective it’s quite similar to CDC Falcon which is the most widely grown winter wheat variety in Manitoba.
It’s a few days later maturing, in that two to four day maturity range longer than Falcon.
Where it does differ is on the quality side as well.
It is a Canadian Western Red Winter which is a milling quality type with higher protein so it’s a significant improvement in that respect in addition to the disease tolerance.
As far as areas of adaptation, really it is suited to all winter wheat growing areas of western Canada but the particular focus is going to be on areas where there’s a higher incidence of Fusarium Head Blight, mostly in the eastern prairies and potentially in southern Alberta.
Derkatch says, with the harvest of the second seed production crop just complete, yields have been very good and it’s common to see yields in the 80 to 90 bushel per acre range.
