Abstract Detail

Agronomy

Thomas, Julian [1], Graf, Robert [2].

Rates of yield gain of hard red spring wheat inwestern Canada.

The Manitoba and Saskatchewan Seed Guides dating back to 1972 represent an unused source of yieldcomparisons to re-examine current progress in western Canadian spring wheat cultivar yields. Adjusting for the shift incheck cultivars over time showed that the yield rise due to new cultivars could be divided into two periods. Prior to theearly 1990s, yields rose at a rate of about 0.33% per year; these low early rates agree with other published estimates fromthis period and were possibly influenced by a strong emphasis on replicating the quality of previous cultivars. From theearly 1990s to 2013, yields rose by about 0.7% per year; this doubling of the earlier rate was significant based on the nonoverlapof confidence intervals of comparable slopes. To compare rates published in the literature with these new rates, allslopes were adjusted to a common benchmark where mean yield 100%. Following these adjustments, current rates inwestern Canada (about 0.67% per year) were comparable with a world average estimated to be about 0.62% per year.Variation in performance among Canada Western Red Spring cultivars based on the Seed Guides was significantlycorrelated with their on-farm yields based on Manitoba Management Plus Program (MMPP) crop insurance data (r 0.81, n42). Beginning in 1991, on-farm yields rose by an average of about 1.4% per year both in Manitoba (ManitobaManagement Plus Program data) and across the entire western wheat area (Statistics Canada data). This comparesfavorably with a world-wide rate of yield increase for wheat since 1991 of 1.16% per year. Although western Canadian onfarmyield gains were attributed to a combination of new cultivars and upgraded agronomy, the two influences were notseparable in the Manitoba crop insurance data set. Opinions published in the farming press that rates of yield gain amongwestern Canadian wheat cultivars are comparatively low were not supported by the evidence presented here.

1 - Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Cereal Research Center, 195 Dafoe Road, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2M9, CA
2 - Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lethbridge Research Centre, 5403 1st Ave South, Lethbridge, AB, T1J 4B1, CA

Keywords:
Yield gain
hard-red spring wheat  .

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Topics
Session: 62
Location: Salon 8/The Shaw Conference Centre
Date: Wednesday, July 29th, 2015
Time: 11:00 AM
Number: 62011
Abstract ID:1782
Candidate for Awards:None