Alberta Agriculture and Food Field Crop Development Centre

Background The barley breeding program started in 1973 as part of a feed grain breeding program The purpose of the program was to develop and evaluate barley, triticale, and winter wheat cultivars for Alberta. The primary interest of this program has been the production of high yielding, high quality feed barley and triticale.

History In 1978 the program was moved to Lacombe Approximately 250 acres of barley land In 1993, with the consolidation of federal and provincial barley breeding at Lacombe, the two-row malting barley program began

Field Crop Development Centre Currently owns approximately 390 acres of land at Lacombe Leases another 200 acres of land Leases 4 off-site locations in Calmar, Olds, Trochu and Morrin

Lacombe Where are we?

Downtown Office The office building is in the town of Lacombe Facilities include: seed quality laboratory (NIRS), cold seed storage facilities, storage facilities and offices

Research Farm Located just south of Lacombe Facilities include: field service center, seed dryers, seed cleaning facilities, field laboratory and seed storage, equipment storage and growth facilities.

NEW GROWTH FACILITIES J.H. Helm Cereal Research Centre

Feed Grain Development Breeding varieties of Barley and Triticale for feed grain and forage (silage and grazing). We concentrate on Yield, disease resistance and nutritional quality.

Barley Program Breeding/Variety Development Specific Objectives: Higher yielding cultivars Quality Disease Resistant Cultivars Early maturing cultivars Post harvest Special purpose barley cultivars Maintenance and improvement of a diverse germplasm collection for cultivar improvement

Triticale Program Breeding/Variety Development Specific Objectives: Higher yielding cultivars Reduce plant height Earlier maturity cultivars High protein content and quality Higher annual forage yielding cultivars Awnless cultivars for green feed production Post-harvest sprouting resistant cultivars High test weight, winter hardiness (winter triticale) Maintenance and improvement in disease resistance, drought tolerance, lodging resistance Maintenance and improvement of germplasm

Winter Wheat Program Breeding/Variety Development Specific Objectives: Improved winter hardiness Higher yielding cultivars Semi ‑ dwarf cultivars Snow mold resistant cultivars Good milling quality (red or white) Resistance to leaf diseases Earlier maturing cultivars Sprouting resistance similar to spring wheat Improved drought tolerance Maintenance and development of germplasm

Breeding Methodology Modified bulk breeding program Pressure put on bulks to move them in desired direction Selections made in F 5 -F 7 Headrows to yield trials Spreading Scald Infected Straw Head selections in California

Germplasm Introductions Assessments-agronomics, quality, disease resistance Identification of parental material Introduction to breeding program

Bulks and Headrows

Yield Trials

Multi-site Yield & Agronomic Testing Olds Trochu Calmar Morrin

Stress Assessment Drought Lodging

Harvesting Silaging Combining Vogeling

Seed Cleaning & Weighing

California Winter Nursery

Traditional Plant Biotechnology Selective breeding of plants Genetic markers Double haploid production Mutagenesis and selection

Quality / NIR System Whole Grain Samples All samples from breeding program (headrows – advanced yield trials) analyzed for quality 40,000 samples can be analyzed in 4 months

Field Crop Development Centre Research Collaboration Alberta Barley Commission Alberta Agriculture and Food Groups Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Other Governments British Columbia Saskatchewan Producer Groups C.S.G.A SeCan etc. Industry Rahr Malting CWB CIGI Funding Agencies ACIDF WGRF

Varieties Developed At FCDC

FCDC -Staff Susan Albers, Triticale Program Monica Ban Matei, Biotech Program Colin Bergen, Triticale Program John Bowness, Barley Program Robyne Bowness, Pulse Program John Brown, Branch Head Kan-Fa Chang, Pulse Pathologist Trina Dubitz, Pulse Program Tim Duggan, Data Management Donna Hand, Centre Administration Stan Hand, Research Farm Operations Christine Hanrahan, Computer Lab Zhanna Hartman, Biotechnology Program Jim Helm, Head of Research Mark Howe, Research Farm Operations Pat Juskiw, Barley Breeder Yadeta Kabeta, Research Scientist Krishan Kumar, Pathology Program Elaine Lacroix, Centre Administrator Susan Lajeunesse, Barley Program Laura Leggott, Germplasm Shan Lohr, Doubled Haploid Lab Don Morehouse, Growth Facility Joseph Nyachiro, Barley Breeder Lori Oatway, Quality Lab Mike Oro, Breeder Seed/Barley Program Don Salmon, Triticale Breeder Bev Smith, Barley Program Mary Lou Swift, Feed Quality Research Scientist Carla Weidner, Barley Program Donna Westling, Barley Program Mandy Wilson, Pathology Program Kequan Xi, Pathologist Shiming Xue, Biotechnology Program Jennifer Zantinge, Molecular Biologist