Research Objective
To utilize on-farm environments to evaluate pulse crop breeding lines; to reduce the per unit cost of breeding line evaluation to allow more efficient screening of the many pulse market classes.
In 2008, this project effectively evaluated approximately 4700 lentil, pea, and dry bean breeding lines (F4-F7 generations) (total of 7839 plots) from the Crop Development Centre (CDC) program at a series of sites outside a 150 km radius of Saskatoon. All trials were conducted on pulse grower farms and general plot maintenance was conducted primarily by the farmer co-operator. This system allowed for effective evaluation of breeding lines and will be useful in selecting lines for re-evaluation in more advanced trials in 2009 and future seasons. This project accelerated the release of superior pulse crop varieties for the Saskatchewan industry.