Objectives
To develop flax and solin varieties suited to eastern growing areas of Saskatchewan and to establish two variety testing and demonstration sites in this region.
Project Description
The breeding effort in flax has been minimal in Canada and the World compared to other crops. The Flax Breeding Program at the Crop Development Centre (CDC), University of Saskatchewan at Saskatoon has developed 8 flax varieties for western Canada since 1974. The 5 eastern crop districts of Saskatchewan (1A, 1B, 5A, 5B and 8A) have grown 70% of Saskatchewan’s flax in the past 10 years. The area is a long way from either the Morden (AAFC) or Saskatoon (CDC) breeding programs and , as such, no delicate variety development work was carried out there. Selecting and evaluating of breeding lines in this environment should lead to better-adapted varieties and higher yields in this area. The goal of the project were to develop flax and solin varieties for eastern growing areas of Saskatchewan, establish two variety testing sites for the flax breeding materials; and to establish demonstration strips for growers in the region for all currently registered varieties in Canada. To achieve these goals, two testing sites at Indian Head and Canora were established in 1998 and the flax and solin breeding material from the flax breeding program at the CDC were used. The project was based at the Indian Head Experimental Farm and coordinated from Saskatoon. The Indian Head Experimental Farm provides space for technicians, storage of equipment and seed samples and 10-112 acres of land every year. At Canora, 10-12 acres were rented every year from East Central Research Foundation to test the same breeding material under Canora conditions.
A total of 4063 advanced breeding lines of flax (F6-F9) and 2184 lines of solin (F6-F9) were yield tested at both locations from 1998 to 2002. Also, a total of 30071 lines of flax early generation material (F3-F6) and 7084 lines of solin (F40F6)were screened at both locations for the same period. From the above advanced lines that were yield tested, a total of 752 flax lines and 242 solin were selected and advanced into the next generations. Also, a total of 7923 flax lines and 1727 solin lines were selected and advanced into the next generations. The two sites provide the Flax Breeding Program an additional environmentally different testing site needed for screening the breeding material, especially when severe weather conditions happened in a particular season as it happened the last two years.
A total of 1069 flax lines and 640 solin lines of F5’s and F6’s that were selected during 2000, 2001 and 2002, they completed a full cycle of selection for flax (F3-F5) and solin (F4-F5) under Indian Head and Canora environmental conditions. Expanding the length of the project was important in continuing evaluating this material under the same environmental conditions and this would have led to develop flax and solin varieties for eastern Saskatchewan in which was the main objective of the project.
