How can canola achieve more yield in the field?
Chad Koscielny, North American canola breeding lead, Corteva
Chad Koscielny says the gains in canola yield over the past two decades have been a great story. “The industry’s response to biotic stressors, including blackleg, sclerotinia and clubroot, has been a big win leading to increased sustainability and yield gains,” says the research scientist and canola breeding lead with Corteva. But Koscielny adds that any significant future gains will have to come from a genetic response to abiotic stress. He took time to answer our questions.
1. What are the most important yield-limiting factors that keep farm averages well below the genetic potential for canola in Western Canada?
The factors are primarily abiotic stress from heat, drought and excess moisture. Improvements can come through agronomy. For example, I did some field studies as part of my Ph.D. that showed how shifting planting dates from early May to late May or early June can cause around a 20 per cent reduction in yield. The reduction is primarily related to increased heat stress for the late-seeded crops.
Genetic tolerance to these abiotic stresses is something we haven’t really solved for growers. For farmers around Carman, Manitoba, where I work, this can be a big challenge. They have a great looking canola crop established, but then the crop only flowers for three weeks with the summer heat, and they harvest their 40 to 45 bu./ac. crop as usual and are left feeling frustrated knowing that it could be yielding a lot more.
2. From a seed developer’s point of view, what technology do you think will be the most valuable in terms of increasing economic returns for canola?
There is really no quick solution when it comes to the issue of abiotic stress due to the multi-genic plant response. For heat stress, we have to use the entire genome to look for positive responses. Then, for breeding, we need to implement proper screening to select for the lines with the best combination of genetics so we can be assured of a fairly consistent response in the field. This can take a long time and requires patience.
When it comes to all technologies available, we have to recognize that the recipe of technologies that provide the best yield benefit and return on investment for growers at Watrous, Saskatchewan will be different than the recipe for Leduc, Alberta.
3. We have seen several game-changing genetic advancements in canola over the past 30 years – blackleg resistance, herbicide tolerance, hybridization and now pod shatter resistance. What do you think will be the next game-changer?
In the short term (one to five years), it will packaging up all traits into a single package and offering it with different herbicide options for grower flexibility. Target traits would include clubroot, blackleg and sclerotinia resistance, pod shatter and maturity. We have recently launch P505MSL which is a Liberty Link hybrid with improved resistance to sclerotinia, improved shattering tolerance, clubroot resistance and is rated R (resistant) to blackleg. Our goal is to continue to layer these traits into more genetic backgrounds with different herbicide options and maturities.
In five to 10 years, it will be use of genetic predictions to drive agronomic and yield performance to the next level, and finally 10 to 15 years out, it will be the use of genetic predictions combined with crop modelling. I would really like to get to the point where we have a more robust crop growth model so we can predict how the crop will respond to different weather conditions. With this model, our breeders could run simulations and then put together a genetics package that will respond well in those situations. That way, we could have hybrids suited to places with a lot of summer heat, to situations where spring frost risk presents a risk to early-seeded crops, and to places where summer day length is very long. Corn has been leading the way in this.
4. Of the traits currently available or on the “game changer” list you describe in question 3, which is the hardest to breed?
It is a challenge to put together an entire package of traits and
offer this package in multiple herbicide-tolerance systems and with a range of two or three maturities. This challenge can become more difficult if we have to introduce new clubroot resistance traits if resistance breakdown occurs. Growers can really help the seed companies by using some of the tools, such as a one in three rotation and controlling volunteers, to improve the duration of disease resistance.
5. Tell us about your company’s breeding investments in end-use traits that could improve the long-term marketability of canola?
Valuation creation per acre will become more critical for Canadian growers, especially as other countries around the world get better at producing more. Improving value per acre could mean producing crops with higher value traits, including high oleic oil, increased protein levels and potentially even designer proteins. Corteva is working on specialty oils and proteins through its Brevant distribution network and its recently announced Protein Industries Canada grant, respectively. Increased health awareness and increased value of seed components will provide opportunities for canola growers in Western Canada, who have proven themselves as rapid technology adopters. The goal is to increase returns per area farmed for growers and consumers.
Wade Stocker, Manager, canola seeds and traits, BASF Canada.
Stewart Brandt, BASF global head, InVigor canola breeding.
1. What are the most important yield-limiting factors that keep farm averages well below the genetic potential for canola in Western Canada?
Stewart Brandt: First of all, for plots and trials we look for the most uniform performing areas within a field. We’re not seeding into sloughs, for example. And those plots are managed proactively and intensively for nutrients, diseases and insects. Farmers, on the other hand, seed whole fields and will accept some loss to insects and disease before considering whether to spend the money on a spray, as they have an economic threshold. For these reasons alone, farmed canola may not achieve the yield potential of canola grown in trials and plots.
Wade Stocker: We know some Canadian farms and fields can get to 90 bu./ac. canola yield in spots, but field averages have to include low spots, drowned out areas and hill tops.
Stewart Brandt: Aside from this variability that will reduce the average, the other major yield limiting factors ones start with weather, particularly timely, adequate (but not an overabundance of) moisture. Soil type, organic matter and growing degree days are other factors. If farmers can seed earlier into soils with high organic matter and in an area with more growing degree days, we know the yield potential will be higher. Finally, the other major factors are agronomic decisions, including seeding date, plant stand and harvest management.
Wade Stocker: Agronomic decisions all season long can have a major cumulative effect on canola yield. Adding to the ones Stewart listed are fertilizer placement and seeding equipment that can help farmers achieve uniform seed placement and plant populations.
2. From a seed developer’s point of view, what technology do you think will be the most valuable in terms of increasing economic returns for canola?
Wade Stocker: As seeding equipment becomes more precise, we’ll be able to achieve more consistent depth and seed spacing down the row. This will improve stand establishment. I also see a bigger role for the concept of an agronomy recipe for each field and for zones within each field. This recipe will include targeted fertilizer blends and rates, seeding rates and crop protection rates.
Stewart Brandt: Farmers and seed companies have a huge amount of data available to them, including data from weather stations, satellite images and drones. The challenge is to make sense of the data. We’re collecting the data, but we also need to process the data and provide solutions that farmers can implement. As companies, we could do a better job of providing the agronomy solutions that come from the data processing.
Wade Stocker: That’s exactly where the BASF Agronomic Excellence group comes in. Through that group, we want to define the specific agronomy decisions that will improve hybrid performance in various situations. This is part of writing the recipes I mentioned earlier.
“As seeding equipment becomes more precise, we’ll be able to achieve more consistent depth and seed spacing down the row. This will improve stand establishment. I also see a bigger role for the concept of an agronomy recipe for each field and for zones within each field. This recipe will include targeted fertilizer blends and rates, seeding rates and crop protection rates.”
Stewart Brandt: It could be possible to have a hybrid for every microclimate, but if we try to fine-tune it too much, the hybrid might be right for a field one year, but not the next. We feel that the better approach for our customers is to look for hybrids that provide stable performance across many different environments.
3. We have seen several game-changing genetic advancements in canola over the past 30 years – blackleg resistance, herbicide tolerance, hybridization, and now pod shatter resistance. What do you think will be the next game-changer?
Stewart Brandt: Blackleg resistance, herbicide tolerance and hybridization all came to canola in the late 1990s. The combination of these three advancements had a big impact on canola production. The next game-changing advancements could come from resistance to abiotic stress, including extreme weather, from stable durable resistance to disease, and from improved nutrient use efficiency. At this point, we’ve identified traits that could play small roles to improve nutrient use efficiency, but the results are not always consistent or measurable. We don’t have our head around everything yet, but with genomics, phenotyping and other tools, we’re getting closer.
Wade Stocker: In the meantime, InVigor’s proprietary pod shatter reduction technology could be considered a game changer in the flexibility it provides to harvest timing. I don’t think we really realized how big a deal this would become for farmers.
4. Of the traits currently available or on the “game changer” list you describe in question 3, which is the hardest to breed?
Stewart Brandt: One challenge with breeding for a new or improved trait, like insect resistance, nutrient use efficiency or abiotic stress tolerance, is to identify genes or genetic sources that are different enough to provide some improvement. That is difficult enough. But when we find genetic material that contains these target traits, it often also has other things that can cause yield drag or unfavourable agronomics or reduce canola oil quality. So even if we find improved clubroot resistance in an exotic brassica plant, for example, these exotic traits can actually slow down breeding efforts if we have to strip away the other baggage that comes with it. This is important for farmers to know because it emphasizes the challenge to bring new sources of resistance to market using the current tools available. That’s why it’s important to protect the traits currently available on the market.
Jamie Mills, Canola marketing manager, Bayer Crop Science
1. What are the most important yield-limiting factors that keep farm averages for canola well below its genetic potential?
Over the years, the environmental conditions continue to be some of the most yield-limiting factors farmers face. In particular, moisture, too much or not enough, and temperature, too cold or too hot, have both been issues in Western Canada.
2. What technology do you think will be the most valuable in terms of increasing economic returns for canola?
The future of increasing economic returns for growers is a combination of many factors working together. Continual improvements in genetic yield potential, improved herbicide traits and options, improved seed treatment options, improved fungicide options and improved agronomic practices will be all integrated by improvements in equipment and precision farming supported by new digital technologies that allow growers to more accurately manage each acre.
3. We have seen several game-changing genetic advancements in canola over the past 30 years – blackleg resistance, herbicide tolerance, hybridization, and now shatter resistance. What do you think will be the next game-changer?
Clubroot continues to be a growing concern for farmers and has the ability to drastically impact how we are able to grow canola in the future. Bringing new and more durable genetic resistance to market in conjunction with improved stewardship will be critical for the future production of canola in Western Canada.
4. Of the traits currently available or on the “game changer” list you describe in question 3, which is the hardest to breed?
Searching for new sources of clubroot resistance means looking at different plants that might not be closely related to canola. Finding the genes is a difficult task, but once they are identified, being able to breed them into a commercially acceptable hybrid is another difficult and lengthy process. It takes many years to breed these types of resistance into canola and still provide farmers an agronomically sound canola hybrid that will produce increased economic return for them.
Bruce Harrison, Senior director, seed breeding and innovation, Nutrien.
Lyle Cowell, Manager, agronomic services, Nutrien.
Alan Grombacher, Senior breeder, Nutrien.
Coreen Franke, Manager, pathology research, Nutrien.
Cynthia Deitz, Proven Seed brand manager, Nutrien.
1. What are the most important yield-limiting factors that keep farm averages well below the genetic potential for canola in Western Canada?
Bruce Harrison: Western Canada is a large and somewhat diverse growing region. Aside from the environment, assembling hybrids having high yield potential, and protecting that potential with broad disease resistance is the key to driving yield improvement. More recently blackleg and clubroot challenges have increased and, as breeders, we all need to focus on managing these challenges.
Lyle Cowell: One way to increase yield is to get marginal areas out of production. When we push canola into more marginal areas, canola yields will stay low. Fifty-two bushels per acre is not achievable on a significant number of soils in Western Canada, and in those where it is possible, every field has soils that won’t support 52 bu./ac. That means higher-producing areas of the field have to yield 70 bu./ac.
“Breeders are building a rocket with a big payload. Agronomy is trying to limit the gravity effect on that rocket. Agronomy gets help from the precision tools available now, including seed placement that provides even depth and even spacing, and variable-rate fertilizer to provide control over variability within fields.”
Alan Grombacher: We will see gains by adjusting fertility based on yield potential differences in different parts of the field. You don’t want those high-producing areas to be yield-limiting for nutrients. I also think activities around planting the crop are a big yield limiting factor. Planting is where most of the problems start, so make sure the planters are achieving the seed placement and stands needed for optimum yield. That’s how you optimize genetics. With no stand, you’re not going to see the crop perform – no matter what you do.
Coreen Franke: An enormous limiting factor is the environment. With climate change and increasingly unpredictable weather, reaching canola’s true yield potential will be an ongoing challenge.
2. From a seed developer’s point of view, what technology do you think will be the most valuable in terms of increasing economic returns for canola?
Cynthia Deitz: Breeders are building a rocket with a big payload. Agronomy is trying to limit the gravity effect on that rocket. Agronomy gets help from the precision tools available now, including seed placement that provides even depth and even spacing, and variable-rate fertilizer to provide control over variability within fields. The next layer is the use of data to identify the responses to these variables, combined with known environmental data, like weather and soil capacity.
Lyle Cowell: Through our Echelon division, we have farmers collecting field data and using that to realize the potential of every acre.
3. We have seen several game-changing genetic advancements in canola over the past 30 years – blackleg resistance, herbicide tolerance, hybridization, and now pod shatter resistance. What do you think will be the next game-changer?
Bruce Harrison: Problems at hand are clubroot resistance, and erosion of the resistance in the Mendel gene. Multi-genic clubroot resistance will become significantly more important to the canola industry in Canada. Also on the list are traits to address abiotic stresses and more known traits including shatter tolerance. Another approach is more targeted breeding of hybrids that can provide yield stability based on local conditions.
Cynthia Deitz: Our analytics team is looking at the data and patterns, matching up trial results and trying to flag geographic, weather and soil type parameters to align varieties to those areas. We’re getting pretty close to this in soybeans and corn due to having Canadian and U.S. data sources. Canola is further away because there are not as many yield data sets available.
4.Of the traits currently available or on the “game changer” list you describe in question 3, which is the hardest to breed?
Bruce Harrison: There are unique challenges for breeding any trait. For Nutrien, we’re focused on grower needs and assembling hybrids with a complete package delivering both yield and yield stability across variable geographies and growing environments.
Coreen Franke: Clubroot is proving to be highly adaptive and extremely pernicious. Already, 17 pathotypes have been identified that can overcome the single gene Mendel resistance source. There is much we still don’t understand about the pathogen, and genetics for resistance are quite complex. The development of effective multi-genic resistance to contend with the numerous pathotypes is not an easy task and will take more time – and even then, these varieties won’t be a silver bullet. The only solution to manage clubroot and protect valuable genetics is to adopt an integrated crop management plan, including growing CR varieties and rotating crops.