New breeding tools impact Canadian commercial farmer fields

The high cost of cultivar development encourages efficiencies to reduce time and costs to develop cultivars. Doubled haploid (DH) technology and marker assisted breeding (MAB) are two such tools that improve efficiencies. Since 1997, twenty five wheat cultivars in seven market classes, developed using DH methods, have been registered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. These DH cultivars accounted for more than one third of the Canadian wheat acreage in 2009. The DH cultivar Lillian, eligible for grades of Canada Western Red Spring class and currently the most widely grown wheat cultivar in Canada, was developed using MAB to improve grain protein content with the Gpc-B1/Yr36 on chromosome 6BS introgressed from Triticum turgidum L. (Zhuk.) dicoccoides (Körn. Ex Asch. & Graebn). AC Andrew, a Canada Western Soft White spring DH cultivar, was the most widely grown cultivar in its class for the last two years. The new market class, Canada Western Hard White Spring wheat, is based entirely on DH cultivars. Goodeve, one of the first Canada Western Red Spring cultivars released with the gene Sm1 on chromosome 2BS for resistance to the orange wheat blossom midge (Sitodiplosis mosellana (Géhin)) was selected by application of the DNA marker WM1. Glencross, the first cultivar in the Canada Western Extra Strong wheat class with Sm1, was selected using the WM1 marker on haploid plants prior to doubling. Development of the durum wheat cultivars CDC Verona and Brigade involved the use of a marker for Cdu1, a major gene on chromosome 5B that regulates grain cadmium concentration. Marker technology permits a more strategic and integrated approach to breeding by quantifying the introgression of various key genes into advanced breeding material, identifying targeted loci in parents and following up with MAB in the progeny.