Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
August 8, 2011
Research into early-maturing wheat varieties, quick-adapting breeding programs, protected seed pricing and wheat disease resistance is being supported by western Canadian farmers through the 2011 CWB postgraduate awards program.
The research projects, being conducted in agriculture faculties at western Canadian universities, all focus on areas of great importance to the success of Prairie wheat farming into the future.
"By supporting these researchers, we help ensure that farmers will be able to continue to produce wheat varieties that are highly desired by customers and competitive in the international marketplace," said Allen Oberg, chair of the CWB's producer-controlled board of directors. "The pressures of weather and disease must be continually combated to keep Prairie producers as profitable as possible."
The CWB annually supports research into diverse areas of benefit to western Canadian grain farmers. This year, a total of $88,500 has been awarded for five research fellowships. These five projects will receive additional funding in 2012 and 2013. Funding comes from the CWB's special account, made up of uncashed producer cheques and interest.
Oberg said it is uncertain whether any new research projects will be supported in future, given the current uncertainty surrounding the fate of the CWB. The federal government intends to introduce legislation this fall to eliminate the CWB's single desk as of August 1, 2012.
At the University of Alberta, work is progressing to develop early-maturing wheat varieties that can mitigate the risk of early- and late-season frost on the Canadian Prairies, and adapt to the pressures of climate change. Early maturity in wheat is a desirable trait to protect against losses caused by cold weather from Canada's limited growing season. The challenge is to induce early maturity without compromising quality, while still producing high enough yield to compete with other crops.
The CWB has also funded a University of Alberta project into wheat breeding techniques that can quickly adapt to new disease threats as they emerge. For example, the recent outbreak of stem rust by Ug99 in East Africa poses a serious threat to wheat production around the globe. New techniques promise to reduce the time needed to release new varieties with desirable or disease-resistance traits by three to four years. This could save millions of dollars in plant breeding costs and bring significant gains to the entire wheat value chain.
Two projects at the University of Saskatchewan also received funding from the CWB. One researcher is examining the issue of protected seed pricing in the face of decreasing public funding and increasing reliance on private investment for introduction of hybrid technologies. By understanding the dynamics of seed pricing and investment in the context of stronger, private-sector intellectual property rights, researchers hope to assist in evaluating government policy outcomes and future industry issues.
Another University of Saskatchewan student is exploring wheat leaf rust, stripe rust and powdery mildew and their interaction with disease-resistant genes in the wheat plant.
At the University of Manitoba, funding was granted for research into fusarium head blight in wheat, a significant problem for Manitoba farmers. This research will map resistant genes in the variety CDC Buteo for use in future breeding of winter and spring wheat. It will also investigate the relationship between fusarium damaged kernels (FDK) and the deoxynivalenol (DON) toxin produced by fusarium to evaluable how well FDK can predict actual DON levels in infected wheat.
Controlled by western Canadian farmers, the CWB is the largest wheat and barley marketer in the world. One of Canada's biggest exporters, the Winnipeg-based company sells grain to over 70 countries and returns all sales revenue, less marketing costs, to Prairie farmers.
2011 CWB fellowship award recipients
The following students are the 2011 CWB postgraduate award recipients. Photos are available for media use upon request.
Atif Kamran, University of Alberta: Early-maturing wheat varieties
Atif's project, under the supervision of Dr. Dean Spaner, involves four different studies to explore how particular wheat gene groups alter flowering time and maturing, in context of keeping yield and quality up to desired standards. He hopes to identify the most appropriate flowering genes to develop wheat varieties that are best suited to the Canadian Prairies. He also hopes to find ways to induce early maturity without compromising quality and producing high yields in order for these wheat strains to be competitive with other crops grown by Prairie farmers.
Mohammad Asif, University of Alberta: Quick-adapting wheat breeding programs
Mohammad's research, under the supervision of Dr. Dean Spaner, is intended to improve particular wheat-breeding techniques in order to more quickly enable release of new varieties. This is particularly important in the face of newly developing wheat-production threats such as Ug99 stem rust from East Africa. Accelerating cultivar development by three to four years will save millions of dollars and help protect Canadian wheat varieties from emerging threats, as well as supporting the continuous introduction of high-yielding, better quality and more disease-resistant wheat on the Prairies.
Mohammad Torshizi, University of Saskatchewan: Protected seed pricing
Mohammad's research, under the supervision of Dr. Richard Gray, focuses on protected seed pricing and research investment. As governments face increasing budget demands, hybrid system and other legal mechanisms to annually reward private investors are becoming more prevalent. With the introduction of hybrid technologies in crops like corn and canola, producers pay more for seed access each year, but this also stimulates additional private investment. Mohammad's dissertation will investigate the dynamics of protected seed pricing and investment to help understand how stronger intellectual property rights could affect producer returns over time at a time when policymakers face some challenging choices.
Kirby Nilsen, University of Saskatchewan: Breeding resistance to leaf rust, stripe rust and powdery mildew in wheat
Kirby's project, under the supervision of Dr. Curtis Pozniak, will examine three important wheat diseases. Kirby will study whether a certain combination of wheat genes results in superior resistance to these pathogens. If they do, it could mean that breeders could target these genes to breed for face no-specific resistance, providing a basis for a long-term, environmentally sustainable approach to combatting these diseases.
Alice Mwaniki, University of Manitoba: Fusarium head blight (FHB) in winter wheat
Alice's work, under the supervision of Dr. Anita Brûlé-Babel, involves evaluating and mapping unique FHB resistance genes from the winter-wheat variety CDC Buteo in search of stronger resistance to this disease, which is a significant problem for Manitoba farmers. She will also investigate the relationship between fusarium damaged kernels (FDK) and the deoxynivalenol (DON) toxin produced by the disease, to assess how well FDK can accurately predict DON levels.
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