The sun is about to set on the current Prairie-wide canola variety evaluation program run by the three Prairie provinces’ canola grower commissions.
SaskCanola, the Alberta Canola Producers Commission and the Manitoba Canola Growers Association announced Monday that 2022 is the final year of the Canola Performance Trials (CPT) “in its current format.”
“Going forward, each of the grower groups will determine how to provide variety selection information to our growers on a provincial basis,” the groups said in newsletters to growers.
The commissions said work will still continue through the Western Canada Canola/Rapeseed Recommending Committee (WCC/RRC) — the industry body that makes recommendations to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) as to which cultivars get registration.
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As for current CPT sites across the Prairies, harvest is “wrapping up” and variety evaluation results from the 2022 season are expected to be tabulated and shared “in the coming weeks,” the commissions said.
The 2022 CPT includes standard trials on seven Clearfield, four LibertyLink, three Roundup Ready and three TruFlex varieties, along with straight cut trials on 10 LibertyLink, eight TruFlex and two Roundup Ready varieties.
The CPT was set up to provide “relevant and unbiased” performance data reflecting actual production practices and comparative data on characteristics such as yield, height, lodging and maturity in both leading and newly-introduced varieties of canola.
The CPT aims to gauge yield differences based on genetic differences only, not in situations of high weed, disease or insect pressure or “enhancements” from other crop inputs.
The CPT began with the 2011 season after many participating seed companies unexpectedly withdrew from its predecessor program, the Prairie Canola Variety Trials (PCVT), in 2010, forcing the PCVT’s cancellation that year. The CPTs added audited field-scale components to the original small-plot model. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
