Manitoba flax farmers (and upcoming flax farmers) will soon have full access to a new flax variety, CDC Esme. As of spring 2025, CDC Esme is available to seed producers across the province, as long as they have been able to access it from seed dealers.
As stated in the Secan Technical Bulletin for the variety, CDC Esme is a large seeded, high yielding brown seeded flax variety with good lodging resistance and late maturity. Esme proves to be a strong yielder in MCVET trials across several site years, with oil content similar to check varieties. Statistics show an average of 2 cm shorter than CDC Glas, which is a beneficial trend in Manitoba, where farmers are trying to reduce flax straw and residue.
Dr. Bunyamin Tar’an and his team at the Crop Development Centre in Saskatoon developed CDC Esme and have several more flax lines that have strong potential for registration on the Canadian Prairies. Most recently, Tar’an had an experimental flax line that has been recommended for registration via Canadian Food Inspection Agency. This line, currently named FP 2608, will undergo a registration process and could likely be available for seed production in the next two years.
FP 2608 has been a promising yielder in the Flax Co-op trials performed in Manitoba and is a consistently strong yielder. It appears to be quite tolerant of pasmo infections in past reports, and oil content and yield has been ranked very high amongst other varieties and lines.
Article originaly posted on "Manitoba Crop Alliance"
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