Increasing mustard’s yield will have big payoff for growers.
Canadian farmers produce almost 40 per cent of the world’s mustard crop and are the largest exporter of condiment mustards (brown, yellow and oriental varieties), much of which is grown on the Canadian Prairies. However, Canadian production faces competition from countries like Russia and Kazakhstan that are increasing their output.
Mustard 21 Canada Inc. (M21) is the organization that manages the commercialization of mustard seed. “Despite our impressive production statistics, the mustard crop has lagged behind in terms of crop development research,” says CEO Rick Mitzel. “The Diverse Field Crops Cluster has helped us get significant funding for activities that will develop the crop in ways that really benefit farmers.”
This round of funding served to enhance seed yield and promote more uniformity in plant height, seed size and maturity by expanding the genetic base in the elite parental lines. The team used the hybrid breeding strategy optimized in the development of AAC Brown 18 to improve brown and oriental mustard varieties.
Lead research investigator, Bifang Cheng, at AAFC – Saskatoon Research and Development Centre, notes that, “In brown and oriental mustard, we have successfully improved the Ogura cms [cytoplasmic male sterility] restorer line, which makes it possible to develop high yielding hybrids in this crop.” This is an exciting development for the Canadian mustard industry.
With this approach, breeders use the cytoplasm from a radish plant to turn off male pollen production (A line) to make it sterile. The A line is multiplied by crossing with a maintainer (B) line. The fertile F1 hybrid seed that farmers grow was produced by crossing the A line with a restorer (R) line. Cheng says this strategy makes it possible to enhance seed yield by using germplasm with a broad genetic base.
She adds, “Our successful application of a hybrid strategy to enhance yield in brown mustard is the variety AAC Brown 18 that we released in 2018. It has seen 21 per cent higher average yield than the check variety Centennial Brown and, like Centennial Brown, it is well adapted to all mustard growing areas in Western Canada.”
As an industry, our goal is to diversify the marketplace and increase demand for mustard, giving growers a profitable, sustainable oilseed crop for their rotations.
The latest variety released from the program is AAC Yellow 80 which was available for the 2021 growing season. It is a composite variety of yellow mustard, which is a combination of four component parental lines and naturally formed
hybrids between those parents and has demonstrated an eight per cent higher yield (compared to the check variety Andante), easier harvesting and cleaner grain.
“Farmers are seeing the yield improvements that our research had indicated and are impressed with the harvestability of this new variety,” says Mitzel. “An eight per cent increase makes a big difference in a year like this, with the high commodity prices we are seeing after the drought.”
“We are continuing to move forward with new varieties and the hybrids give us an advantage in the global marketplace where we compete with other countries growing our open-pollinated varieties,” he says. “In fact, AAFC-Saskatoon Research and Development Centre have several test varieties of each yellow, brown and oriental mustard going to the Mustard Adaptation Trials with excellent agronomic traits and higher yields in 2022.”
“We are using Diverse Field Crops Cluster funding to explore and develop new market opportunities for mustard in the areas of protein, fibre and oil as well,” says Mitzel. “As an industry, our goal is to diversify the marketplace and increase demand for mustard, giving growers a profitable, sustainable oilseed crop for their rotations.”
This DFCC research activity is led by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada-Saskatoon Research and Development Centre and
Mustard 21 Canada Inc. with funding support from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Canadian Agricultural Partnership
program, Saskatchewan Mustard Development Commission, Canadian Mustard Association and Western Grains Research
Foundation.
Mustard 21 Canada Inc. is part of the Diverse Field Crops Cluster. The Diverse Field Crops Cluster (DFCC) is an agri-science cluster whose purpose is to support the research and development of high-potential, special crops.