Researchers Still Working On Perennial Wheat

Researchers Still Working On Perennial Wheat CROPS New Crops It s been a few years since FARM SHOW first told you about efforts in Quebec and Oregon to develop varieties of perennial wheat Vol 19 No 2 & 4 but researchers are still hopeful of success     The researchers we interviewed then were Jean-Pierre Dubuc at Canada s Soils and Crops Research Centre in Sainte-Foy near Quebec City and Tim Peters a private plant breeder and owner of a small seed company in Myrtle Creek Ore     Dubuc retired about four years ago and passed the project on to Andre Comeau who reports that the work has been shelved for a couple of years now due to budget cuts     Comeau was encouraged by the recent success of Surya Acharya a colleague in Alberta who developed a perennial rye He s attempting to find a funding source to put perennial wheat back into active research     Dubuc s approach was to cross a wheat species with quackgrass Yields of the resulting perennial lines were only about 1/3 that of annual varieties yet growers might net the same per acre with most of the savings coming in annual seeding and soil preparation costs     Peters too has been limited in funds for his research I ve sold some seed of the first variety I developed he says but I shifted the focus to a new variety 3625 which has more winter hardiness and tends to revert back to a non-heading state better than the first variety     Both Jefferson and 3625 are the result of crossing annual wheat with some perennial wild wheat relatives      In the first couple of years yields are good enough to give growers a net return maybe half that from an annual wheat but then it begins to thin out dramatically Generally the clumps get larger and the number of heads per clump increases but the number of clumps declines and yields drop off Peters says     Although yields drop off Peters says ground cover remains fairly consistent so even an older stand of perennial wheat provides good soil erosion control     Based on selections he s made recently Peters figures he s about 12 years away from a successful perennial wheat Comeau on the other hand can t say when or even if the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada project might bear fruit since no funding source currently exists for the project He d like to discuss the issue with wheat growers organizations and soil conservation groups among others     Peters says he could make a small quantity of both Jefferson and 3625 seed available on a research only basis We can sell 1-oz packets if people are willing to do their own increases he says     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Tim Peters Peters Seed and Research Box 1472 Myrtle Creek Ore 97457 ph 541 874-2615; E-mail: psr@pioneer-net com ; or Andre Comeau Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada s Soils and Crops Research and Development Centre 2560 Hochelaga Boul Sainte-Foy Quebec G1V 2J3 Canada ph 418-657-7980; E-mail: comeaua@em agr ca

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.