Branching in field pea

Non-Peer Reviewe

Field pea seed residues: the potential for low cost weed control

Non-Peer ReviewedPlant growth suppression trials were undertaken with soil sampled 18 mo apart (2008, 2009) from two locations affected by field pea seed residues. Test plant species were grown in the residue-affected soil and compared to residue-unaffected soils, sampled from nearby fields. Germination was either fully inhibited or emergence delayed by more than one week in residue-affected soil. Dry matter accumulation of test species grown in residue-affected soil was significantly reduced compared to dry matter of these species grown in unaffected soil (P <0.0001). Canola and field pea were inhibited more than wheat and green foxtail over both years. Greenhouse trials also revealed that germination of wild oats was inhibited in the residue-affected soils, although overall, wheat and grassy weeds were less affected than dicots. Significant reductions of weed species diversity and abundance were correlated to residue-affected soils (P <0.0001) when compared to control soils using multi-response permutations procedures. In bioassays in sterile media, germination of wheat and canola seed was inhibited, using aqueous extracts of weathered pea seeds or extracts of the residue-affected soil. An allelopathic response was proposed to explain these results

Genetic variation and stability of agronomic and quality traits in soybean varieties grown in western Canada between 2013 and 2018

Non-Peer ReviewedSoybean is one of the major crops of the world, but relatively new to western Canada, especially areas west of Morden, Manitoba. Expansion of soybean production to these Canadian Prairies has been slow due to a lack of adapted very-early maturing cultivars. Evaluation of stability and adaptability of a genotype to a broad range of environments is beneficial to recommend cultivars for known conditions of cultivation. Diverse soybean varieties were evaluated over multiple locations in Saskatchewan for six years (2013-2018). Significant effects of genotype, environment, and genotype and environment interaction were detected for phenology, agronomic and quality traits. Broad sense heritability estimates are medium to high for most of these traits in many site-years. Varieties with good performance stability for yield, quality and days to maturity were detected over the study period. Results from this study suggests some recommendations for soybean breeding and expansion in western Canada

Pulse crop breeding update

Non-Peer ReviewedThe pulse crop breeders at the Crop Development Centre (CDC)/Department of Plant Sciences are developing improved cultivars of lentil, field pea, chickpea, dry bean and faba bean for producers in western Canada. General objectives include improvement of yield, disease resistance, earliness, and quality for diverse markets

Iron bioavailability in low-phytate pea

Non-Peer ReviewedPhytate is the main storage form of phosphorus in the seeds of most crops. Phytate is not well digested by monogastrics and it chelates iron, zinc and some other micronutrients. To increase the nutritional value of pea seeds, two low phytate lines (1-150-81 and 1-2347-144) were developed from CDC Bronco in previous research. In this study, an in vitro digestion/Caco-2 cell culture bioassay was used to simulate the iron absorption of peas in humans, as the cell line originated from human colon adenocarcinoma cells. The iron bioavailability of the two low-phytate lines was 1.4 to 1.9 times higher than that of three normal phytate varieties, while having the same total iron concentration. In vivo studies were used to evaluate iron absorption of chickens fed low phytate and normal phytate pea diets. The diets containing the two low-phytate pea lines had no significant effect on chicken body weight and hemoglobin level, compared with the diets containing normal phytate pea cultivars, however, iron deficiency was suspected in all diets used

Iron bioavailability in low phytate pea

Non-Peer ReviewedThe objectives of this study are to determine the effect of genotype and environment on iron bioavailability in a set of five pea varieties differing in phytate concentration using the in vitro digestion/Caco-2 human cell assay (Glahn 2009), to determine whether iron bioavailability in field pea is heritable by evaluating recombinant inbred lines (RILs) differing in phytate concentration using in vitro digestion/Caco-2 human cell assay, and to determine the effect of the pea low phytate trait on chicken performance and iron bioavailability in chicken. In a previous study, two low phytate pea lines (1-2347-144 and 1-150-81) were developed from CDC Bronco at the Crop Development Centre, University of Saskatchewan (Warkentin et al. 2012). As a powerful chelator of iron, phytate can reduce the iron bioavailability in diets. The low phytate peas may have increased iron bioavailability compared to the normal phytate peas. In the first objective of this project, the iron bioavailability of pea seeds of the two low phytate lines, their parent CDC Bronco and two other popular pea varieties in western Canada (CDC Meadow and CDC Golden), derived from 3 replicate field experiments conducted in 2009 and 2010 at SPG (Saskatchewan Pulse Growers land), Outlook and Rosthern, were assessed using the in vitro digestion/Caco-2 cell culture. The result shows that the iron bioavailability of the two low phytate lines is significantly higher than the other three normal phytate varieties, although their iron concentrations have not significant difference. The low phytate line 1-2347-144 and CDC Meadow were crossed to develop RILs

Evaluating the competitive ability of semi-leafless field pea cultivars

Non-Peer ReviewedField pea (Pisum sativum L.) is an important grain legume in Western Canada. Growers can, however, be reluctant to include pulse crops in their rotation because they are poor competitors with weeds. Developing more competitive field pea cultivars is important to ameliorate weed competition. The identification of competitive cultivars and the traits conferring competitive ability should lead to the development of more competitive field pea cultivars. The objective of this research was to evaluate the ability of semi-leafless field pea cultivars to suppress and withstand weed competition and to identify traits that may confer competitive ability in field pea. Field experiments were conducted in 2012 at Floral, Saskatchewan and St. Albert, Alberta. Fourteen semi-leafless field pea cultivars with divergent pedigree, vine length, seed size, and market classes were seeded at a target density of 75 plants m-2 under weedy and weed-free conditions. Imidazolinone-tolerant wheat (c.v. CDC Imagine) and canola (c.v. 45H73) were planted as pseudo weeds at a target density of 20 plants m-2 in the weedy plots. Variables measured were leaf area index, plant height, pea biomass, weed biomass, pea yield, and weed seed production. Data were subjected to ANOVA using the mixed model procedure in SAS. There was no cultivar by treatment interaction for pea yield at Floral, so cultivars did not differ under treatments. CDC Dakota produced the greatest pea yield and Reward produced the poorest pea yield. CDC Dakota was among the best for pea biomass production at both sites, compared to CDC Leroy, which was among the worst at both sites. CDC Dakota was also among the best for the low weed seed production at Floral. CDC Mozart, CDC Patrick, and Cutlass were among the best at Floral for ability to withstand competition at Floral. While, CDC Dakota, CDC Meadow, and CDC Patrick were among the best for their ability to compete at Floral. At both sites, no correlations were strong enough to show which traits are conferring competitiveness in semi-leafless field pea cultivars

Chickpea water use efficiency in relation to cropping system, cultivar, soil nitrogen and Rhizobial inoculation in semiarid environments

Crops grown in semiarid rainfed conditions are prone to water stress which could be alleviated by improving cultural practices. This study determined the effect of cropping system, cultivar, soil nitrogen status and Rhizobium inoculation (Rz) on water use and water use efficiency (WUE) of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in semiarid environments. The cultivars Amit, CDC Anna, CDC Frontier, and CDC Xena were grown in no-till barley, no-till wheat, and tilled-fallow systems and under various rates of N fertilizer (0, 28, 56, 84, and 112kgNha-1) coupled with or without Rz. The study was conducted at Swift Current and Shaunavon, Saskatchewan, from 2004 to 2006. On average, chickpea used about 10mm of water from the top 0-15cm soil depth. In the tilled-fallow system, chickpea extracted 20% more water in the 15-30cm depth, 70% more in the 30-60cm depth, and 156% more in the 60-120cm depth than when it was grown in the no-till systems. CDC Xena had WUE of 5.3kgha-1mm-1 or 20% less than the average WUE (6.6kgha-1mm-1) of the three other cultivars, even though these cultivars used the same amounts of water. Water use efficiency increased from 4.7 to 6.8kgha-1mm-1 as N fertilizer rate was increased from 0 to 112kgNha-1 when chickpea was grown in the no-till barley or wheat systems, but chickpea grown in the tilled-fallow system did not respond to changes in the fertilizer N rates averaging WUE of 6.5kgha-1mm-1. In the absence of N fertilizer, the application of Rz increased WUE by 33% for chickpea grown in the no-till barley system, 30% in the no-till wheat system, and 9% in the tilled-fallow system. Chickpea inoculated with Rhizobium achieved a WUE value similar to the crop fertilized at 84kgNha-1. Without the use of Rz, chickpea increased WUE in a linear fashion with increasing fertilizer N rates from 0 to 84kgNha-1. Cropping system, cultivar, and inoculation all had greater impact on WUE than on the amount of water extracted by the crop from the soil. The improvement of cultural practices to promote general plant health along with the development of cultivars with improved crop yields will be keys for improving water use efficiency of chickpea in semiarid environments.Cicer arietinum No-till systems Summer fallow Rhizobial inoculant Drought stress WUE