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Try the online tool to compare canola varieties

Compare leading varieties based on days to maturity, lodging, height and yield with the Canola Performance Trials (CPT) online database at canolaperformancetrials.ca. Results from 2019 trials are now loaded into the system.
 
“Yield is just one factor to consider when making canola variety decisions for 2020,” says Keith Fournier, chair of the CPT Governance Committee. “After 2019, many farmers will be paying attention to days to maturity, for example, and will be looking for clubroot resistance and perhaps harvest management traits like lodging and pod shatter tolerance.”
 
Results from the 2019 trials are based on 31 small plot and 60 field scale trials across the Prairies. The 2019 program had more completed sites than any of the previous four years, and saw a big jump from 27 small plot and 42 field scale trials in 2018.
 
Using the online searchable database, located at the bottom of the page at canolaperformancetrials.ca, growers can filter CPT results by province, season zone and herbicide-tolerance system. They can also search all varieties or do head-to-head comparisons of two or three varieties. Simply select a year and other filter parameters, and click ‘Search Trials’ to produce graphs and a data table displaying yield, days to maturity, height and lodging comparisons. A map shows the locations for all trials that fit the selections.
 
The online tool can also compare variety results over a number of years. The CPT program has been running since 2011, and applicable data collected over the past nine years are available.
 
To see comparison tables with clubroot-resistant varieties and for straight-cut harvesting, please see the PDF results report also available at canolaperformancetrials.ca. The small plot trials included 12 straight-cut sites. Field scale trials had 37 straight-cut locations and 11 clubroot comparisons.
 
“The CPTs compare leading varieties with traits that farmers are looking for, creating good relevant information,” says Fournier. “Canola farmers need these variety trials to make better seed decisions for their farms, which is why the provincial canola farmers’ organizations continue to fund the program.”
 
SaskCanola, Alberta Canola and the Manitoba Canola Growers fund the program, along with contributions from the British Columbia Grain Producers Association. The Canola Council of Canada supported on the delivery of the program. CPTs are guided by Governance and Technical Committees, which include grower representation, and facilitated by Haplotech. 
Source : Canola Council of Canada

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Wheat Yields in USA and China Threatened by Heat Waves Breaking Enzymes

Video: Wheat Yields in USA and China Threatened by Heat Waves Breaking Enzymes

A new peer reviewed study looks at the generally unrecognized risk of heat waves surpassing the threshold for enzyme damage in wheat.

Most studies that look at crop failure in the main food growing regions (breadbaskets of the planet) look at temperatures and droughts in the historical records to assess present day risk. Since the climate system has changed, these historical based risk analysis studies underestimate the present-day risks.

What this new research study does is generate an ensemble of plausible scenarios for the present climate in terms of temperatures and precipitation, and looks at how many of these plausible scenarios exceed the enzyme-breaking temperature of 32.8 C for wheat, and exceed the high stress yield reducing temperature of 27.8 C for wheat. Also, the study considers the possibility of a compounded failure with heat waves in both regions simultaneously, this greatly reducing global wheat supply and causing severe shortages.

Results show that the likelihood (risk) of wheat crop failure with a one-in-hundred likelihood in 1981 has in today’s climate become increased by 16x in the USA winter wheat crop (to one-in-six) and by 6x in northeast China (to one-in-sixteen).

The risks determined in this new paper are much greater than that obtained in previous work that determines risk by analyzing historical climate patterns.

Clearly, since the climate system is rapidly changing, we cannot assume stationarity and calculate risk probabilities like we did traditionally before.

We are essentially on a new planet, with a new climate regime, and have to understand that everything is different now.