b'Sunflower grower and provincial organizations is key to its success. These Canadas Only Confection Sunflower Breeding Programtools, including genomic selection and mutation purging, Stays Strong enhance breeding processes and contribute to the development Manitoba Crop Alliance of robust prediction models for elite common bean varieties. Research endeavours extend to addressing challenges such as white mold tolerance and identifying superior chickpea materials, paving the way for potential chickpea cultivation in the northeast. Breeding Groundbreaking Bean VarietiesUniversity of GuelphThe University of Guelph bean breeding program employs population breeding to enhance various bean vari-eties, including navy, black, A Manitoba Crop Alliance sunflower nursery in Holland, Man. cranberry, kidney (dark and light red, white), pinto, and Confection sunflower stands as a valuable and ecologically sig- adzuki beans. Each year, the nificant crop in Canada, offering benefits like carbon sequestra- program conducts over 250 tion, water preservation, and pollinator attraction, making it anunique crosses, advances over ideal addition to resilient crop rotations. However, its potential800 F2-F5 families and 3,500 is hindered by limited genetic diversity for local conditions androws from single plants andPeter Pauls has developed, with susceptibility to diseases like rust and downy mildew, coupledcarries out numerous yieldothers, more than 50 novel navy, with inadequate weed control measures. The predominanttrials and performance testskidney, pinto, black and cranberry dry bean varieties at the University hybrid used by growers, over 30 years old, lacks vigour andto identify and develop newof Guelph.disease resistance, further challenging production. registered bean varieties, right The Manitoba Crop Alliance (which represents wheat,now totaling 20 varieties across different market classes licensed barley, winter wheat, corn, flax and sunflower farmers) haswith seven companies in North America. made big investments to establish Canadas sole hybrid confec-tion sunflower breeding program. The producer group aimsOilseedsto enrich the genetic pool of confection sunflower varietiesBattling Soybean Cyst Nematodeby introducing novel germplasm, thereby developing parentalUniversity of Guelphlines with enhanced disease and herbicide resistance tailored toThe university has solidified Canadian agroecosystems.its position as a leader in By prioritizing breeding efforts that align with Canadianagricultural research, notably growing conditions, the program seeks to deliver sunflowerthrough its esteemed soybean hybrids optimized for resilience and productivity at the localbreeding program under the level, ensuring the sustainability and profitability of confectionguidance of Istvan Rajcan. sunflower cultivation in Canada. A primary objective of masters student Scott Moore Pulses is to identify novel soybeanA primary objective of University of Guelph grad student Scott Theres Value in the Value-Chain Approachcyst nematode (SCN) resist- Moores work is to identify McGill University ance genes sourced from elitenovel soybean cyst nematode The McGill University pulse breeding and genetics researchChinese soybean varieties.resistance genes sourced from program adopts a value chain approach to meet the specificGiven the proliferation ofelite Chinese soybean varieties.needs of Quebec growers, primarily focusing on dry beans.SCN populations capable of overcoming the commonly utilized By integrating input from growers, marketers, seed producers,PI 88788 resistance source, urgent efforts are underway to dis-processors, and consumers, the program aims to develop cropcover new resistance genes to mitigate yield losses. cultivars with traits that benefit all stakeholders. Central toTo do it, they extract vital genes from high-performing their approach is a streamlined breeding and testing pipeline,Chinese soybean germplasm for integration into tailored which efficiently navigates the complex genetics associated withvarieties suited to Canadas agricultural conditions. Utilizing desired traits. a Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) across a diverse Valerio Hoyos-Villegas, who spearheads the program, saysrange of Canadian, Chinese, and hybrid varieties, the team the its integration of advanced genomic tools supported byaims to pinpoint specific single nucleotide polymorphisms 10 SEEDWORLD.COM/CANADA JULY 2024'