Kubota, H., Quideau, S. A., Hucl, P. J. and Spaner, D. M. 2015. The effect of weeds on soil arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and agronomic traits in spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under organic management in Canada. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 615-627. Understanding the influence of weeds in agroecosystems may aid in developing efficient and sustainable organic wheat production systems. We examined the effect of weeds on soil microbial communities and the performance of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under organic management in Edmonton, AB, Canada. We grew 13 Canadian spring wheat cultivars in organically managed hand-weeded less-weedy and weedy treatments in 2010 and 2011. The less-weedy treatment exhibited greater grain yield and tillers per square meter, while kernel weight, test weight, days to maturity, plant height, grain P and protein content were not altered by weed treatment. Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat cultivars CDC Go and CDC Kernen were the most yield-stable because they minimized fertile tiller reduction in response to weed pressure (10 and 13% reduction, respectively, compared with the average reduction of 20%). Other cultivars exhibited yield stability through increased kernel weight. The contribution of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) to the total phospholipid fatty acid increased in both treatments; however, the rate of this increase was greater in the weedy treatment than the less-weedy treatment (from 2.9 to 3.9%, from 2.8 to 3.1%, respectively). Weed dry biomass was positively correlated with AMF% in the less-weedy treatment only. Organic systems tend to be weedier than conventional systems. We found that weeds are important determinants of AMF proliferation in soil. In addition, choosing wheat cultivars that maintain important yield components under severe weed stress is one strategy to maximize yields in organic systems.

Bueckert, R. A., Wagenhoffer, S., Hnatowich, G. and Warkentin, T. D. 2015. Effect of heat and precipitation on pea yield and reproductive performance in the field. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 629-639. Pea (Pisum sativum L.) is important globally as a cool season crop. Pea cultivars are heat-sensitive so our goal was to investigate how weather impacted growth and yield in recent cultivars in the Co-operative pea yield trials (2000 to 2009) for a dryland (Saskatoon) and an irrigated (Outlook) location. We explored relationships between days to maturity, days spent in reproductive growth (flowering to maturity), yield and various weather factors. Yield and the length of reproductive growth increased with seasonal precipitation. Pea was sensitive to heat but heat units did not satisfactorily describe growth and yield in all environments. Strong relationships were observed between crop growth and mean maximum daily temperature experienced during reproductive growth, and between crop growth and mean minimum temperature. The greater the mean maximum temperature (>25.5°C), the fewer the number of days (<35) spent in reproductive growth at the dryland location. At Outlook, 35 to 40 d in reproductive growth occurred in a much wider temperature range from 24.5 to 27°C, and irrigation mitigated some reduction in yield. For dryland pea, more than 20 d in the season above 28°C were associated with less time in reproductive growth and less yield. The threshold maximum temperature for yield reduction in the field was closer to 28°C than 32°C from published studies, and above 17.5°C mean seasonal daily temperature. Western Canadian cultivars currently have short lifecycles, which make them heat sensitive. Heat tolerance could be improved by earlier flowering and a longer duration of flowering via an indeterminate habit. Future research will investigate pea nodal development, flowering and abortion patterns in a range of pea cultivars in field conditions.

Coulman, B., Loeppky, H. and Entz, M. 2015. The effect of late fall seeding time on the seed production of Italian ryegrass. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 641-645. Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) is a cool-season grass, which behaves as an annual in the Great Plains region of western Canada and is used as a grazing crop. Italian ryegrass requires vernalization for reproductive development to occur. Late fall (dormant) seedings, which have been used for annual crop species, have often resulted in earlier developing seedlings in the spring and higher yield than spring seedings. For Italian ryegrass, dormant seedings may result in vernalization of early-spring-germinating seedlings, allowing seed production without having to overwinter established plants. The objective of this study was to compare the seed yield and stand establishment of late fall (dormant) and spring seedings of Italian ryegrass at three locations in the Great Plains region of western Canada. Stand establishment was assessed by measuring tiller density in the month of June, and these densities were greater for spring than late fall seedings. Most spring seedings had no reproductive development and, thus, no seed yield; however, most late fall seedings produced seed the following year, indicating that vernalization of early-developing seedlings did occur. There were significant differences in seed yield among the four cultivars tested and among sites. Based on the high variation in seed yield among cultivars and sites and the relatively low yield levels obtained, late fall seedings of Italian ryegrass cannot be recommended in the Great Plains region of western Canada.

Doce, R. R., Baron, V. S., and Dick, A. C. 2015. Estimating swath-grazed carrying capacity from plot-scale data. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 647-651. A spreadsheet calculator was developed to estimate farm-scale carrying capacities for swath grazing beef cows with forage yield and quality data from small areas within fields or paddocks. It could be used to compare agronomic treatments for swath grazing potential from plot data when combined with existing beef nutrition equations. Examples using either in vitro true digestibility at 30-h digestion or acid detergent fiber (ADF) in equations to estimate digestible energy were compared with actual field-scale carrying capacities to evaluate the ability of the methods to meet requirements of scale, precision and accuracy. Both methods were capable of estimating carrying capacity at a realistic whole-farm scale, but the ADF-based method was superior with respect to accuracy and precision characteristics.

Cheplick, S., Sarkar, D., Bhowmik, P. and Shetty, K. 2015. Phenolic bioactives from developmental stages of highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) for hyperglycemia management using in vitro models. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 653-662. Blueberry is a rich source of soluble phenolics as well as human health relevant antioxidants. Phenolic-linked bioactive functionality of blueberry for type 2 diabetes management was screened during fruit maturation, especially from green to ripening stages using in vitro assays. Green fruit showed the highest total soluble phenolic content, whereas all three developmental stages of blueberry fruit exhibited high total antioxidant activity. Overall, ripe fruit had higher a-amylase and a-glucosidase inhibitory activity than green or green/pink fruit, and showed significant potential to improve glucose metabolism through in vitro assays. High phenolic-linked antioxidant activity along with moderate to high a-amylase and a-glucosidase inhibitory activity in ripe blueberry indicated its potential relevance as part of diet-based prevention and management of early stages of hyperglycemia associated with development of type 2 diabetes. This in vitro screening study provides a biochemical rationale and dietary strategy to develop the right blueberry cultivar and stage of fruit development for further validation in animal and clinical studies.

Vyas, P., Curran, N. H., Igamberdiev, A. U. and Debnath, S. C. 2015. Antioxidant properties of lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.) leaves within a set of wild clones and cultivars. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 663-669. The antioxidant activities and the contents of total soluble phenolics, flavonoids, anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins were studied in wild and cultivated lingonberries (Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.). The antioxidant properties of wild clones were much higher than those of the cultivars. The levels of antioxidant compounds were positively correlated with latitude, altitude, reduced temperature and increased precipitation of the collected sites.

Zhang, J., Sha, Z., Zhang, Y., Bei, Z. and Cao, L. 2015. The effects of different water and nitrogen levels on yield, water and nitrogen utilization efficiencies of spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.). Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 671-679. Water and nitrogen (N) are important factors that affect crop yield. The objective of this study was to explore the interactive effect of water and nitrogen on biomass production, yield and growth responses, water and nitrogen use efficiency of winter-grown spinach. A field experiment was grown with treatments of varying water (W) and nitrogen (N) levels near Shanghai, China. Leaf area, shoot biomass and height of spinach increased with the application of N in the well-watered treatment. The highest chlorophyll content was found in spinach treated with N₂ (170 kg ha^-1 nitrogen). A response surface analysis was done on plant height, leaf number, leaf weight, and plant yield of each spinach plant at different water and nitrogen levels. The equation for each of the response surfaces was taken and solved for the mathematical optimum of the curves. Abundant water supply resulted in the highest spinach yield. Yield of spinach increased with N application rates but decreased when the N was excessive. Compared with the low water treatment (W₃), a higher N leaching ratio was observed in the high water treatment (W₁), regardless of N treatment. With the increase of N application, N use efficiency of spinach significantly decreased, while water use efficiency of spinach increased. In conclusion, water levels between 36.15 cm and 42 cm, and nitrogen applications between 86 and 152.74 kg ha^-1 could be recommended as the optimal treatment for spinach growth.

Sarikamis, G., Yildirim, A. and Alkan, D. 2015. Glucosinolates in seeds, sprouts and seedlings of cabbage and black radish as sources of bioactive compounds. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 681-687. The glucosinolate content of seeds, sprouts and seedlings of white head cabbage and black radish were analyzed in order to determine changes in aliphatic and indole glucosinolates during seed germination and early seedling growth. Both species with distinct glucosinolate profiles exhibited higher levels of aliphatics and to a much lesser extent indoles. Glucosinolate content decreased in germinating seeds and seedlings upon imbibition, followed by a slight increase after 48 h of germination. Total glucosinolates were highest in young seedlings at true leaf stage compared with seeds and sprouts in both species. The findings of the present study demonstrate changes in glucosinolates from seed to sprout and seedling during germination and early seedling growth as a particularly prominent factor in maximizing the concentration of the bioactive compounds available for improved health benefits.

Akladious, S. A., Isaac, G. S. and Abu-Tahon, M. A. 2015. Induction and resistance against Fusarium wilt disease of tomato by using sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L) extract. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 689-701. The antifungal activity of Ocimum basilicum (sweet basil) extract against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici race 3 the causal agent of tomato wilt and its ability in inducing disease resistance were studied in vivo using seed-soaking treatment before sowing. Plants were harvested at 45 and 105 d (vegetative and flowering stages) after sowing. Treatment with O. basilicum extract decreased the disease incidence from 94.70 to 18.00%. Results revealed that growth parameters and photosynthetic pigments were markedly inhibited in tomato plants in response to Fusarium wilt disease, whereas the contents of non-enzymatic and enzymatic antioxidants were increased as compared with healthy control plants. Moreover, presoaking in basil extract enhanced all the mentioned parameters in both healthy and infected plants. SDS-PAGE analysis of tomato leaves revealed that seed treated with basil extract resulted in an induction of novel protein bands during the vegetative stage. These new proteins were not detected in untreated healthy or infected control plants. Electrophoretic studies of polyphenol oxidase, esterase and malate dehydrogenase isoenzymes showed wide variations in their intensities and densities among all treatments. It seems that O. basilicum extract was able to enhance the biological control of Fusarium wilt disease of tomato.

Boersma, J. G., Hou, A., Gillard, C. L., McRae, K. B. and Conner, R. L. 2015. Impact of common bacterial blight on the yield, seed weight and seed discoloration of different market classes of dry beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 703-710. Common bacterial blight (CBB) is a seed-borne disease of dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), causing significant economic loss to growers due to reductions in seed yield and quality and the need to annually purchase disease-free seed. Over the past decade a number of breeding lines and cultivars with resistance to CBB have been developed in several bean market classes including navy, black and cranberry beans. A comparison of three susceptible navy bean cultivars and seven resistant navy, three black and one cranberry bean entries in Manitoba revealed that most resistant navy and black bean lines had significantly reduced the incidence of leaf symptoms and their mean yield losses were reduced to less than 17%, while those of the susceptible lines were as high as 36% under severe disease pressure. Only the weakly resistant navy bean cultivar HR67 and the cranberry bean line F4GR1 failed to substantially reduce CBB symptoms or show a yield advantage. The Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) marker PVctt001 in combination with Sequence Characterized Amplified Region (SCAR) marker SU91 was associated with a low incidence of CBB symptoms and a reduced yield loss in five navy bean lines, but not in the cranberry bean line F4GR1. Disease symptoms on the pods in the resistant black and navy beans and seed discoloration of navy beans caused by CBB were also significantly reduced by resistance. Seed weights were reduced by 2.1-4.7% in the susceptible cultivars, but there was only a slight or no decrease or no effect on the seed weight of the CBB-resistant lines and cultivars. Generally the magnitude of the reductions in yield was much greater than the impact on seed weight, which suggests that yield losses were caused by a combination of reduced seed weight and the number of seeds per plant.

Mmbaga, M. T., Kim M.-S., Mackasmiel, L. and Klopfenstein, N. B. 2015. Differentiation of Corynespora cassiicola and Cercospora sp. in leaf-spot diseases of Hydrangea macrophylla using a PCR-mediated method. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 711-717. Corynespora cassiicola and Cercospora sp. have been identified as the most prevalent and destructive leaf-spot pathogens of garden hydrangea [Hydrangea macrophylla (Thunberg) Seringe] in the southeastern USA, but they are often difficult to accurately detect and distinguish because they often occur together in a disease complex with other pathogenic leaf-spot fungi and produce very similar symptoms. This study was conducted to provide diagnostic PCR primers for detecting and distinguishing Corynespora cassiicola and Cercospora sp. among other leaf-spot pathogens of garden hydrangea. Two primer pairs showed specificity to Corynespora cassiicola and one primer pair showed specificity to Cercospora sp., and these primers did not amplify DNA from any other common fungal pathogens associated with hydrangea leaf-spot diseases. Results from this study show that DNA-based diagnostic primers provide a useful tool for pathogen detection/identification in hydrangea leaf-spot disease, which is an essential step toward understanding disease etiology and developing/applying appropriate disease-management practices in the southeastern USA.

Belfry, K. D., Soltani, N., Brown, L. R. and Sikkema, P. H. 2015. Tolerance of identity preserved soybean cultivars to preemergence herbicides. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 719-726. Six field trials were conducted over a 3-yr period (2011 to 2013) near Exeter and Ridgetown, Ontario, Canada, to assess the tolerance of seven identity-preserved (IP) soybean cultivars to preemergence (PRE) herbicides applied at 2×the recommended dose. All cultivars demonstrated excellent tolerance to dimethenamid-P, pyroxasulfone, S-metolachlor, chlorimuron-ethyl, clomazone, cloransulam-methyl, flumetsulam and imazethapyr, showing 5% or less injury. At Exeter, linuron caused as much as 13 and 18% injury at 2 and 4 wk after soybean emergence, while injury due to metribuzin was as high as 22 and 47% for the same dates, respectively. At Exeter, linuron, metribuzin and S-metolachlor plus metribuzin reduced soybean height up to 17, 41 and 24%, respectively; soybean height was generally not affected at the Ridgetown sites. At Exeter, metribuzin reduced soybean yield up to 38% for cultivars S03W4, Madison and OAC Lakeview, while S23T5 was not significantly reduced. On the contrary, metribuzin yield loss at Ridgetown was nonsignificant. Results from this study suggest that PRE application of metribuzin at 2× field dose has potential to cause unacceptable injury and yield reduction in IP soybeans under some soil and climatic conditions and may vary according to cultivar.

Soltani, N., Robinson, D. E, Miller, R. T. and Sikkema, P. H. 2015. Length of residual activity of saflufenacil/dimethenamid-p in soybean (Glycine max). Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 727-733. A total of six field studies were conducted over a 2-yr period (2009, 2010) at three Ontario locations to determine the length of residual activity of saflufenacil/dimethenamid-p applied preemergence (PRE) for the control of annual weeds in soybean. As the rate of saflufenacil/dimethenamid-p increased from 0 to 980 g a.i. ha^-1 the maximum cumulative emergence percentage for common lambsquarters, redroot pigweed and common ragweed decreased. Additionally, as the saflufenacil/dimethenamid-p rate increased from 0 to 980 g a.i. ha^-1, the cumulative emergence of common lambsquarters, redroot pigweed and common ragweed slowed down over time. Times to 10% emergence were 1.0, 1.0, 2.1, 3.2, 3.9, 6.6 and >12 wk for common lambsquarters, 1.4, 1.6, 1.8, 2.6, 4.3, >12 and >12 wk for redroot pigweed and 0.8, 1.0, 2.2, 2.7, 3, >12 and >12 wk for common ragweed with saflufenacil/dimethenamid-p applied at 0, 30.625, 61.25, 122.5, 245, 490 and 980 g a.i. ha^-1, respectively. Based on these results, saflufenacil/dimethenamid-p applied PRE at the labelled use rate of 245 g a.i. ha^-1 can provide as much as 3.9, 4.3 and 3wk of effective control of common lambsquarters, redroot pigweed and common ragweed, respectively in soybean.

Chen, M., Yang, Q., Wang, T., Chen, N., Pan, L., Chi, X., Yang, Z., Wang, M., and Yu, S. 2015. Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation of peanut and the efficient recovery of transgenic plants. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 735-744. Four genotypes of peanut and two sources of explants (cotyledon and mesocotyl) were tested for their susceptibility to genetic transformation by the Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain LBA4404 that harbored the binary vector pCAMBIA1301. This plasmid contains the hygromycin phosphotransferase (hpt) and ß-glucuronidase (GUS) genes, each under the control of a CaMV35S promoter. Comparative analyses of regeneration and transformation efficiencies indicated that mesocotyl was a better target tissue than cotyledon, and peanut genotypes of that mature early and have relatively small seeds (such as Huayu 26 and Huayu 20) were shown to be comparatively responsive to transformation. Sonication of explants soaked with solutions containing Agrobacterium was shown to optimize transformation. Culture of explants on medium supplemented with 3 mg L^-1 indole-3-butyric acid and 0.1 mg L^-1 napthaleneacetic acid enabled vigorous rooting from almost all transgenic shoots. More than 85% of the transplanted plants could produce morphologically normal flowers and pods with viable seeds. Phenotypic and genotypic monitoring of the inheritance of hpt and GUS genes through two generations indicated the expected 3:1 inheritance. Our results make Agrobacterium-mediated transformation a viable and useful tool for both breeding and functional genomic analysis of peanut.

Jégo, G., Rotz, C. A., Bélanger, G., Tremblay, G. F., Charbonneau, E. and Pellerin, D. 2015. Simulating forage crop production in a northern climate with the Integrated Farm System Model. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 745-757. Whole-farm simulation models are useful tools for evaluating the effect of management practices and climate variability on the agro-environmental and economic performance of farms. A few process-based farm-scale models have been developed, but none has been evaluated in northern regions with boreal and hemiboreal climates characterized by a short growing season and a long period with snow cover. The study objectives were to calibrate the grass sub-model of the Integrated Farm System Model (IFSM) and evaluate its predictions of yield and nutritive value of timothy and alfalfa, grown alone or in a mixture, using experimental field data from across Canada, andto assess IFSM's predictions of yield of major annual crops grown on dairy farms in eastern Canada using regional yield data from two contrasting regions. Several timothy and alfalfa datasets combining sites, years, harvests, and N fertilization rates were used to calibrate and evaluate the model. For timothy and alfalfa, the model's accuracy was globally satisfactory in predicting dry matter yield and neutral detergent fiber concentration with a normalized root mean square error (NRMSE)<30%. For N uptake, the scatter was a bit larger, especially for timothy (NRMSE= 49%), mainly because of a small range in the measured data. The model's accuracy for predicting the yield of annual crops was generally good, with an NRMSE<30%. Adding timothy and alfalfa to the grass sub-model of IFSM and verifying the model's performance for annual crops confirmed that IFSM can be used in northern regions of North America. In addition, the model was able to simulate the yield and nutritive value of a timothy-alfalfa mixture, which is the most common perennial mixture used in Canada.

Miller, J. J., Beasley, B. W., Drury, C. F., Larney, F. and Hao, X. 2015. Influence of long-term manure application on mineral composition of irrigated barley silage. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 759-770. The long-term effect of land application of manure type (composted vs. stockpiled manure), bedding type (wood-chips vs. straw), and application rate on feed quality of barley silage as feed for beef cattle is unknown. We measured selected minerals [P, Ca, Ca:P ratio, Mg, K, K:(Ca Mg) ratio, Na, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu] of irrigated barley silage (Hordeum vulgare L.) on a clay loam soil after 4 (2002), 7 (2005) and 11 (2009) years of annual applications of composted (CM) or stockpiled (SM) feedlot manure with wood-chips (WD) or straw (ST) bedding at three application rates (13, 39, 77Mg ha^-1 dry wt.). The treatments also included an unamended control and inorganic fertilizer treatment. Manure type generally had inconsistent or no significant (P=0.05) effect on the concentrations of these minerals in barley silage. Most crop minerals were generally greater under ST than WD. The findings for P, K, Na, and K:(Ca Mg) ratio generally supported our hypothesis of greater crop concentrations with greater application rate, but Ca and Mg decreased at higher rates. Overall, our findings suggest that bedding and application rate have more potential than manure type for managing the feed quality of barley silage.

McGonigle, T. P. and Grant, C. A. 2015. Variation in potassium and calcium uptake with time and root depth. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 771-777. Root uptake of calcium (Ca) and potassium (K) with depth in soil and through time are of interest not only as fundamental processes of plant physiology but also for the practical application of crop management. For K specifically, depth of band placement for fertilizer should be optimized for crop uptake. Environmentally rare strontium (Sr) and rubidium (Rb) are used as root activity tracers for Ca and K, respectively. We applied Sr and Rb to field micro-plots at depths 0-5 cm, 5-10 cm, and 10-15 cm. Tracer application throughout the entire rooting volume for a given depth interval eliminated confounding effects of age-related lateral root spread seen with point application. Soil analyses confirmed there was no within-profile movement of amendments. Maize (Zea mays L.) shoot Sr concentration was greatest at 16 d of growth for amendment to 0-5 cm, in keeping with expected restriction of Ca uptake to root tips. In contrast, maximum shoot Rb concentration was at 24 d and with amendment to 5-10 cm, indicating more proximal root uptake of K. Uptake of Sr and Rb was sustained for a longer period from 5 to 15 cm than from 0 to 5 cm, so that most of the Ca and K in shoots likely comes from this greater depth interval. Soil pasteurization reduced colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi but had no impact on tracer uptake, indicating these fungi do not influence uptake of Ca and K. Studies on maize root activity using Sr and Rb should apply tracers in the 5- to 15-cm depth interval and harvest shoots between 3 and 7 wk after planting. Based on Sr uptake, determination of soil Ca levels to predict early-season uptake by maize should focus on the 5- to 15-cm depth interval. Based on Rb uptake, banded application of K fertilizer is expected to be most effective to promote early-season growth when band placement is within 5- to 15-cm depth.

Ross, S. M., King, J. R., Williams, C. M., Strydhorst, S. M., Olson, M. A., Hoy, C. F. and Lopetinsky, K. J. 2015. The effects of three pulse crops on a second subsequent crop. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 779-786. Pulse crops can provide benefits to cropping systems, but few studies follow the effects beyond one subsequent crop. This study investigated the effects of three pulses on 2 yr of subsequent crops at Barrhead and St. Albert in central Alberta. In year 1 (YR1), field pea (Pisum sativum L.), faba bean (Vicia faba L.), lupin (Lupinus angustifolius L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), and canola (Brassica napus L.) were grown without added N. The design included plus N controls, eight different crops in YR2, and barley in YR3. YR1 effects on YR3 barley varied between sites and years, and drought conditions in 2009 affected results. Effects of YR1 faba bean were greater than pea or lupin. Increases in YR3 barley grain yields averaged 11% (0.33 Mg ha^-1) and increases in seed N yields averaged 11% (7.2 kg N ha^-1) after YR1 faba bean, compared with after YR1 canola or barley without added N (BCO). Increases in YR3 barley grain yields and seed N yields averaged 3 to 5% after YR1 pea or lupin, compared with BCO.YR1 crops had few effects on YR3 barley P uptake. Results indicated that pulse crops can improve the yield and quality of a second subsequent crop.

Randhawa, H. S. Graf, R. J. and Sadasivaiah, R. S. 2015. AAC Innova general purpose spring wheat. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 787-791. AAC Innova is a high-yielding spring wheat cultivar eligible for the Canada Western General Purpose (CWGP) wheat class. Based on 32 site-years of testing over 3 yr in the General Purpose Wheat Cooperative Registration trial (2008-2010), AAC Innova yielded 4% higher than AC Andrew and was 1 d later in maturity. Compared with AC Andrew, AAC Innova had similar test weight and the soft white kernels were slightly larger. AAC Innova was resistant to the prevalent races of leaf rust and was resistant to moderately resistant to stem rust and leaf spotting diseases. It was susceptible to common bunt, loose smut and Fusarium head blight.

Randhawa, H. S., Graf, R. J. and Sadasivaiah, R. S. 2015. AAC Indus soft white spring wheat. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 793-797. AAC Indus is a soft white spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivar that meets the end-use quality specifications of the Canada Western Soft White Spring (CWSWS) class. AAC Indus is adapted to the irrigated wheat-growing regions of southern Alberta and southern Saskatchewan, and for dryland production in the western prairies. AAC Indus had higher (P=0.05) grain yield under dryland conditions than all of the check cultivars. AAC Indus exhibited excellent straw strength and was 2 d later in maturity. AAC Indus exhibited good levels of resistance to the prevalent races of stripe rust and powdery, mildew and intermediate reactions to kernel black point and leaf rust. AAC Indus was susceptible to stem rust, common bunt, loose smut and Fusarium head blight.

Brown, P. D., Randhawa, H. S., Mitchell Fetch, J., Fox, S. L., Humphreys, D. G., Meiklejohn, M., Green, D., Wise, I., Fetch, T., Gilbert, J., McCallum, B. and Menzies, J. 2015. AAC Foray red spring wheat. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 799-803. AAC Foray, an orange wheat blossom midge (Sitodiplosis mosellana Géhin) tolerant hard red spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), combined high grain yield and good agronomic performance with excellent resistance to leaf and stem rust, and improved resistance to Fusarium head blight. AAC Foray had maturity, straw strength, and test weight similar to the check cultivars. AAC Foray is eligible for grade of the Canada Prairie Spring Red wheat market class.

Brown, P. D., Randhawa, H. S., Mitchell Fetch, J., Meiklejohn, M., Fox, S. L., Humphreys, D. G., Green, D., Wise, I., Fetch, T., Gilbert, J., McCallum, B. and Menzies, J. 2015. AAC Tenacious red spring wheat. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 805-810. AAC Tenacious, an orange wheat blossom midge (Sitodiplosis mosellana Géhin) tolerant hard red spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), combined good agronomic performance with excellent resistance to Fusarium head blight, leaf rust, stem rust, stripe rust, common bunt, loose smut, and preharvest sprouting. AAC Tenacious had similar maturity, acceptable straw strength, and higher test weight as compared with the check cultivars 5700PR and 5701PR. Based on end-use quality analyses, AAC Tenacious has excellent quality for the Canada Prairie Spring Red wheat market class.