Winter Wheat Production on the North Central Canadian Prairies: Potential Quality Classes1

Abstract

Southwestern Alberta has been the traditional winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production area in western Canada. In recent years, direct seeding of winter wheat into standing stubble has resulted in an extension of this production area to include most of the western Canadian prairies. This study was undertaken to assess the potential quality of winter wheat grown in one section of the expanded production area, namely, the north‐central part of the agricultural area of Saskatchewan. Three grain quality measurements—kernel hardness, mixograph peak time, and protein concentration—were utilized to evaluate the quality of nine winter wheat cultivars grown in 15 trials and of five winter and four spring wheat cultivars grown in six trials. The cultivars represented a wide range of winter and spring wheat quality classes. Cultivar differences and the cultivar by environment interactions were significant for all three measurements of quality. Environmental effects were also significant for all quality measurements except mixograph peak time. However, for kernel hardness and mixograph peak time, the variability due to those sources was usually small when compared to that due to cultivars, Variability due to sources other than cultivars was much greater for protein concentration and yield. Higher grain yield of winter wheat, together with apparent environmental limitations to protein production plus possible genetic differences, resulted in lower protein percentages for hard red winter as compared to hard red spring wheat cultivars. On the basis of these observations, no genetic or environmental restrictions are apparent for the production of winter wheat cultivars suitable for all except the highest protein, common wheat quality classes.