Objectives
1. Establish contra-season flax nursery at Leeston, New Zealand.
2. Alternate growing seasons between Leeston and Kernen Crop Research Farm to allow flax breeding to occur faster than the conventional rate.
3. Evaluate the potential of this method to accelerate the CDC’s response to changing environmental and market demands by shortening the interval between generations and the time needed to produce new flax varieties.
Project Description
CDC flax breeding lines derived from material sent to New Zealand in year 1 (2015) of the project were performance tested for the first time (preliminary yield tests 1-13) in 2016. The CDC flax breeder selected 220 breeding lines for advanced yield trials (Tertiary B-F) to be conducted in Saskatchewan (Kernen, Floral, Melfort) in 2017. Superior lines will tested for another year of performance (pre-coop) testing in 2018 and candidate selections made for pre-registration testing in 2019-20. In total, the seven years from the initial cross in 2015 to possible support for registration in 2021 represents a considerable reduction in time to variety registration (typically 12-13 years without use of a contra-season nursery). For example, the popularly grown CDC Bethune was registered in 1998 from an initial cross made in 1985. In contrast CDC candidate line FP2513 (yield potential 112% of CDC Bethune) developed from F3:5 (HYF1239) advanced using a contra-season nursery was supported for registration this year from an initial cross made in 2009.
Grower Benefits
The use of a winter nursery reduces the time required to release a new flax variety by ~30%, significantly increasing the flexibility of the flax breeding program. A shorter time to register a new flax variety means that the flax breeder will be better able to respond to new challenges and market opportunities as they arise.
