Eastern Ontario Crop Conference 2016

1. Ellen Sparry, C&M Seeds and Joanna Follings, OMAFRA
Eastern Ontario Crop Conference
February 18, 2016

2. From wheat quality to quality wheat..
• Milling and end-use
• Genetics
• Agronomy

3. Wheat Classes
Market Class Traits and Uses
Bakery products (cakes, pastries) flat breads, crackers, fillings
Lower protein
Good milling and baking quality
French breads, flat breads, steamed breads, noodles
Range of protein content
Bakery products (cakes, pastries), breakfast cereals
Lower protein
Highest protein, excellent milling and baking
Pasta (from semolina), couscous,Winter Durum
(CEAD)
Hard red spring
wheat (CEHRS) Used along or in blends for hearth bread, steamed bread,
noodles, flat bread, common wheat pasta
Whole grain flour products, Asian noodles, bulgar, tortillas,
breads and rolls
Soft white winter
wheat (CESWW)
Soft red winter
wheat (CESRW)
Hard red winter
wheat (CEHRW)
Hard white winter
wheat (CEHWW)

4. 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
1992 1994 1996 1998 2001 2004 2009 2011 2013
Ontario Wheat Tonnage
HRS
HRW
SRW
SWW

5. Grain movement for Milling
• 48 wheat mills in Canada (Canadianmillers.ca)
– 18 in Ontario, 6 in Quebec
– New P&H mill in Hamilton, ‘increase intake of Ontario
wheat by 10%’
• Domestic
– Soft red → 600,000mt +, also into feed market
– Hard red (hrw, hrs)→ 250,000 (+/-)
– Soft white → 30,000mt
• Import
– 1,000,000 plus mt of CWRS
• Export
– Soft red, up to 500,000 into US (higher protein and flour strength)
– Soft red, into overseas markets (higher protein and flour strength)
– Soft white, into Michigan

6. Flour Types
Hard Wheat Soft Wheat
All purpose flour
Usually chemically
leavened products
Yeast leavened
products
flour type %protein recommended uses
Bread 12-13 breads, pizza crusts
All-purpose 9-12 everyday cooking, quick breads, pastries
Cookie 9-10 cookies, blended flours
Pastry 8-9 pie crusts, pastries, cookies, biscuits
Cake 5-8 high-ratio cakes, angel food cake, jelly rolls
How much protein is in flour?

7. Soft Wheat Flour End-Products
Range of requirements for GLUTEN STRENGTH
Gluten - concentration and composition determines strength
GLUTEN STRENGTH

8. DOMESTIC: WHEAT QUALITY PARAMETERS
Flour tests
• Flour yield
• Ash content
• Guten index
• Solvent Retention Capacity
• Starch damage
• Farinograph
• Alveograph
• Amylograph
• Rapid viscoanalyzer (RVA)
• Wire Cut Cookie
Wheat tests
• Test weight
• Moisture content
• Protein content
• Falling number
• Kernel hardness

9. Falling Number
• Measures the breakdown of starch and protein by
enzyme activity (Alpha-amylase, β-amylase, and protease )
• Factors affecting
– Major = PHS, LMA, Temperature
– Minor = fusarium infection, altitude
• Reduced grain yield and quality - economic losses
and down-graded wheat ...

10. Solvent Retention Capacity (SRC)
• Quick, inexpensive way to predict functional
profile for flour
• originally developed by the Nabisco Company in
the US for (soft wheat) cookie and cracker flour
• Examines gluten, pentosan, water retention,
starch damage characteristics of the flour

11. Farinograph
• Gives bakers a good snapshot of the flour's
properties and how the flour will react in different
stages of dough mixing
• Typically used to assess bread making properties
• Characteristics of the curve
– **Absorption**
– Peak time
– MTI
– **Stability **

12. Farinograph
American wheatChinese wheat
German wheat English wheat

13. Alveograph
• Measures flexibility/pliability
• Inflates a bubble in a thin sheet of dough until it
bursts.
• Resulting values show the strength of the flour,
and thus its suitability for different uses
• Commonly used for export

14. And the final requirement ....
Consistency ....

15. R&D – Meeting Market Needs

16. C&M Research – Virtual Tour

17. C&M Research
• 4000-5000 plots
– Plus external locations
• 800 varieties
• 20000 field notations
– Heading/maturity, plant disease, plant characteristics,
height, lodging
• Post harvest evaluation
– Yield, test weight, kernel size, protein, falling number
– Preliminary quality analysis for milling characteristics
• 80-90% ‘cut’rate each year
• 1-2 pre-commercial lines per year

18. Breeding and Research
• Initial Crosses
– narrow and wide
• Agronomy comes first
– Yield, straw strength, disease
• Preliminary Quality
– Falling number & protein in house
– Small sample analysis for gluten strength, flour yield
• Variety registration
– Yield, fusarium, quality
• 10 years to reach this point ....

19. The Importance of Protein
13.5%
Protein
10.0%
Protein
Variety is a significant factor of both flour protein and gluten strength

20. Yield vs Protein
65
70
75
80
85
90
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Yield,bu/acre
6.0
7.0
8.0
9.0
10.0
11.0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
GrainProtein,%

21. Variety Registration
• Ontario Cereal Crop Committee
• Minimum 2 year testing process (AFTER 10 years
internal)
• Yield, fusarium, quality
• Yield = equal to or better than
• Fusarium
– Must be better than MS for index and DON
• Quality
– Evaluated by millers, end-users, grain trade, growers
– Same traits as domestic for both kernel and flour

22. Raising the bar ...

23. Producing quality wheat
• Manage your wheat!!
– Variety selection
– Planting date and seeding rate
– Nitrogen (rate and timing)
– Fungicides
– Weed control
• Quality Attributes Growers can Control
– Test Weight, Moisture Content, Protein Content and
quality
CropShots Media

24. Choosing the right variety
OMAFRA, Pub 811
Market Class Characteristics
Typically lowest priced class
Lower nitrogen requirement than hard red
Higher nitrogen requirements to maximize protein potential
Price Premiums may be available
More sprouting and fusarium risk - Harvest early!!
Price Premiums may be available
Lower nitrogen requirement than hard red
Slightly lower yields
Need to manage for protein with newer, higher yielding genetics
Good quality, good demand by end-users
Soft red winter
wheat (CESRW)
Hard red winter
wheat (CEHRW)
Soft white winter
wheat (CESWW)
Hard red spring
wheat (CEHRS)

25. Choosing the
right variety

27. Confidential 27

28. Planting Date
• Cereal crops are very responsive to
planting date!!
–1.1 bu/acre/day decrease in yield for
each day that cereal planting is delayed
• Increase seeding rate by 200 000/ week
delayed to a maximum of 2.2 million
seeds/acre
–If planting early, reduce seeding rate by
25%
OMAFRA, Pub 811

29. Provincial Winter Wheat Yields
1981 - 2015
Trendline yield 84.6

30. Nitrogen
• Optimum rate of nitrogen depends on:
– Crop being grown
– Past applications of manure or fertilizer
– Soil type
– Crop rotation

31. Nitrogen
• Hard winter wheat varieties
– High protein content is required; therefore, higher
rate of nitrogen fertilizer is often needed
– Optimum rate of nitrogen is 35–70 kg/ha (30–60
lb/acre) greater than for pastry (soft) wheat
– Split nitrogen applications have been shown to
increase protein; growers should always ‘do the
math’ for ROI when increasing inputs

32. Managing for Increased Protein
Management Input Protein
Increase (%)
35 kg/ha additional N 0.5
70 kg/ha additional N 1.0
Split N (GS 30 + 32) 0.5
Post Anthesis N (GS 30 + 69) 0.75
Split N (GS 30 + 32 +69) 1.0
Agrotain Plus 0.2
ESN 50% 0.5
ESN 100% 0.75
P. Johnson, S. McClure 2008-2014

33. Managing for Increased Protein
Banks, 2015
Yield (bu/ac) @14.5% Protein %
N Rate (lbs/acre)/
Fungicide
Caramba None Caramba None
60 100.5 82.5 10.0 10.6
90 103.7 83.8 10.8 11.4
120 105.5 83.9 11.3 12.1
60 spring + 60 @ Z31-Z32 108.4 84.2 11.8 12.0
150 107.6 92.0 12.0 11.8
75 spring + 75 @ Z31-Z32 112.0 83.8 11.9 12.5

34. Managing for Increased Protein
Banks, 2015
Yield (bu/ac) @14.5% Protein %
N Rate (lbs/acre)/
Fungicide
Caramba None Caramba None
0 71.2 66.4 10.9 10.5
60 89.6 87.0 11.0 10.6
90 92.8 89.8 11.4 10.9
120 93.7 92.1 11.5 11.3
60 spring + 60 @Z31-Z32 93.8 94.2 12.2 12.0
150 93.1 93.9 11.7 11.8
75 spring + 75 @ Z31-Z32 95.0 92.5 12.5 12.2

35. Fungicides
• Fungicides have become an
integral part of cereal
production
• Fusarium
• Other leaf diseases
NSU Extension
New Brunswick Department of Agriculture

36. Application Timing Delta Yield (bu/ac)
T1 1.6
T2 6.9
T3 8.0
T1 + T2 8.0
T1 + T3 8.9
T2 + T3 10.8
T1 + T2 +T3 12.9
Brinkman, 2009-2011 SMART data
Fungicide Timing

37. Wheat Response to Fungicides
3
7
8
7
9
10
11
3
9
10
13 13
15
18
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
T1 T2 T3 T1 + T2 T1 + T3 T2 + T3 T1 + T2 +
T3
90 lbs N
150 lbs N
Yield response bu/ac to Fungicide Strategy and N
Hooker et al, 2012

38. Nitrogen Response With and Without
Fungicides
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
80.0
90.0
100.0
0 30 60 90 120 150
Yield(bu/ac)
N Rate (lb/ac)
Nitrogen Response Curve
With Fungicide
No Fungicide
P. Johnson and S.McClure, OMAFRA 2013-2014

40. Important Take Home….
• As N rates increase, density of the plant canopy
increases which increases the risk of foliar
diseases
• Yield responses to increased N rates are not
expected unless accompanied by adequate
control of leaf and head diseases with fungicides
• With the use of a T2 or T3 fungicide and where
lodging has not been a concern, spring N
application rate may be increased by 30 kg N/ha

41. Weed control
Cowbrough, OMAFRA

42. Negatively Affect Grain Quality
Cowbrough, OMAFRA

43. Ideal stage for
herbicide applications
Herbicide applications at this
stage increase the risk of crop
injury that negatively affects yield

45. Value
Harvest Date Yield
(bu/ac)
Test Wt
(lb/bu)
Sprouts
(%)
July 13 92.4 62.0 0.0
July 18 91.8 61.3 0.0
July 21 91.7 60.4 2.3
Aug 1 88.7 57.8 8.8

46. Test Weight
Harvest Date Yield
(bu/ac)
Test Wt
(lb/bu)
Fusarium
(%)
Timely 73.0 61.1 0.7
1 Rain 72.4 59.6 1.1
2 Rains 73.4 58.9 1.3
4 Rains 72.7 58.0 1.8

47. A Glance at the 2016 Winter Wheat
Crop
• ~1 million acres seeded
– HRW 10%
– SWW 9%
– SRW 81%
• Excellent fall weather conditions

48. • Genetically modified wheat that repels aphids grown by
British scientists
• Hybrid wheat (www.hybridwheat.net)
– Syngenta wheat breeding transitions to hybrids in North America (2015)
– Another giant investing in hybrid wheat (2013)
– Six new hybrid wheat listings in France (2013)
• Wheat Genome Mapping Project Celebrates Breakthrough
What’s next in wheat

49. esparry@redwheat.com
@Ellen_Sparry (twitter)
519-343-2126
joanna.follings@ontario.ca
@onfieldcrops (twitter)
519-271-8180

50. Wheat ‘facts’
 Sliced bread was introduced under the Wonder
Bread label in 1930
 One acre of wheat can produce more than 1,500
loaves of bread
If you ate a sandwich for breakfast, lunch, and
dinner, it would take 168 days to eat the amount of
bread produced from one bushel of wheat.
Legend has it that whoever eats the last piece of
bread has to kiss the cook!
Wheat Foods Council