Dr. Lily Tamburic-Ilincic, University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus
The classes of wheat most frequently grown in Ontario include soft red winter, hard red winter, soft white winter and hard red spring. Durum wheat is used for pasta and other noodle production and has the potential to be established as a new class of wheat in Ontario.
Higher returns for durum wheat compared to other wheat classes have the potential to attract farmers to grow this class of wheat, especially in south-western Ontario. However, at present there is just one spring durum wheat variety registered in Ontario. The objective of this study is to evaluate agronomic performance, quality characteristics and to estimate the level of Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) in winter durum wheat in Ontario.
In 2006, the University of Guelph, Ridgetown Campus, started to evaluate agronomic performance for winter durum cultivars from the Virginia Tech University breeding program and Europe (Hungary, Serbia). Winter survival, plant height, heading date, disease incidence (Powdery mildew, Leaf rust, Septoria leaf, Barley yellow dwarf virus), test weight, total kernel weight, yield and protein level were recorded for each cultivar.
In general, durum wheat is considered to be highly susceptible to FHB. But using the FHB nursery at the Ridgetown Campus we were able to screen winter durum lines and evaluated each line for FHB severity, incidence and deoxynivalenol (DON) level in harvested grain.
Howson & Howson Ltd., a milling company based out of Blyth, Ontario, analyzed the grain for quality characteristics. As result of this project, the first winter durum (VA05WD-31) was supported for registration by Ontario Cereal Crops Committee in January 2009. Additional winter durum lines from Germany and Virginia were planted in 2008 and will be evaluated in 2009 and 2010.
This project is supported through ORD.