8th INTERNATIONAL WHEAT CONFERENCE

NeW BReedINg TooLS ImPACT CANAdIAN CommeRCIAL
fARmeR fIeLdS
RM DePauw 1 , RE Knox 1 , JB Thomas 2 , DG Humphreys 2 ,
SL Fox 2 , PD Brown 2 , AK Singh 1 , HS Randhawa 3 , P. Hucl 4 ,
C Pozniak 4 , DB Fowler 4 , RJ Graf 3 , and A. Brule-Babel 5
1 Semiarid Prairie Agricultural Research Centre, AAFC, Swift Current, SK, Canada
2 Cereal Research Centre, AAFC, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
3 Lethbridge Research Centre, Lethbridge, AB, Canada
4 Crop Development Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; Department
of Plant Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
E-mail Address of presenting author: ron.depauw@agr.gc.ca
Since 1997, ten Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS), three Canada Western Hard White
spring, one Canada Western Soft White (CWSW) spring, two Canada Western Extra
Strong (CWES) spring, and three Winter General Purpose cultivars developed using
doubled haploid (DH) methods have been registered by the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency. These DH cultivars accounted for more than a third of the western Canadian
wheat acreage in 2009. The DH cultivar Lillian (since 2006, the most widely grown wheat
cultivar in Canada) was developed using marker assisted selection (MAS) to improve
protein content with the Gpc-B1/Yr36 introgression from Triticum dicoccoides. Goodeve,
one of the first CWRS cultivars released with the gene Sm1 for resistance to the orange
wheat blossom midge [Sitodiplosis mosellana (Géhin)] was identified using the DNA
marker WM1. Glencross is a doubled haploid cultivar that was the first in the CWES
wheat class with Sm1 based wheat midge resistance and was selected using the WM1
marker on haploid plants prior to doubling. Development of low grain cadmium 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. AC Andrew, a
CWSW DH cultivar, was the most widely grown cultivar in its class in the last two years.
Marker technology permits a more 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 MAS in the progeny.
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