Is organic spring wheat breeding necessary?

Reid, T. A., A. Navabi, D. Spaner
University of Alberta, Edmonton AB

Abstract
Organic wheat producers in western Canada mainly use cultivars which have been bred under conventional management systems or use older cultivars released before the wide spread use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

We are conducting experimentation to investigate whether breeding populations selected in later generations would differ between conventional and organic management systems.

A population of 79 F6 recombinant inbred lines derived from a cross between AC Barrie and Attila was grown with replication and eleven check cultivars at two Edmonton AB sites (one organic) in 2005 and six sites (three organic) throughout central AB in 2006.

Preliminary results (employing only grain yield as the primary selection criteria) suggest the top 10% yielding lines differ between conventional and organic sites.

Thus, selecting high yielding lines under conventional management may not provide the highest yielding under organic management. These preliminary results may suggest that the selection of “organic cultivars” may be possible under organic management.

 

Source
Organic Connections Conference 2006 - Research Poster Winner - First Prize

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