Production | Fall 2008
Top picks for canola traits.
One grower shares his wish list for tomorrow’s canola hybrids
Canadian farmers seeded a record number of canola acres in 2008. They also paid record prices for fertilizer, putting “a better response to fertilizer and increased efficiency when it comes to fertilizer management” at or near the top of Brian Chorney’s wish list for fellow canola producers.
The president of the Canadian Canola Growers Association (CCGA), Chorney farms 1,800 acres near East Selkirk, MB. About 25 per cent of that land was seeded to canola in 2008 and Chorney’s the first to admit he’s most interested in varietal improvements that put money in growers’ pockets.
He also knows that agronomic issues differ from region to region. “Any resistance we could have to sclerotinia would be very beneficial in the area where I farm,” says Chorney. In other areas, blackleg and club root are bigger issues.
Besides improved disease resistance, he’d like to see increased tolerance to excess moisture. “Compared to the other crops I grow, canola seems to be the first crop negatively affected by wet weather. And this year, from seeding to harvest, it didn’t stop raining in this area.” In other regions, tolerance to lack of moisture is important, as drought can also devastate a canola crop, says Chorney.
Canola seems to be “especially vulnerable to wet weather at seeding,” he adds. “And once those seedlings are gone, they’re gone.”
Chorney doesn’t straight cut his canola. But he knows that a growing number of farmers are trying to capitalize on the potential savings related to spending fewer hours in the field, so “less harvest shatter would be another advantage.”
Chorney’s wish list mirrors the direction of current research, says Rod Merryweather of Bayer CropScience, which markets InVigor canola. “In the near future we will be able to deliver on many of the things Chorney is asking for including multiple disease resistance and other stress and quality traits.” FF
