Keep it Clean, a collaboration between the Canola Council of Canada, Cereals Canada, Pulse Canada and the Prairie Oat Growers Association, publishes an annual advisory to help farmers navigate market risks related to agrochemical use.

The biggest change this year stems from the Pest Management Regulatory Agency’s (PMRA) widely reported loosening of restrictions on the use of lambda-cyhalothrin (Matador), a broad-spectrum insecticide commonly used to control grasshoppers in cereal crops.

Krista Zuzak, director of crop protection and production with Cereals Canada and the organization’s representative on the Keep it Clean team, said the chemical was previously removed from the list due to uncertainty about whether treated grain would be destined for animal feed or human consumption.

“It really added complexity and confusion for farmers trying to make decisions to control pests like grasshoppers,” Zuzak says. “When the PMRA announced the reinstatement of grain treated with lambda-cy as an acceptable source of livestock feed, it resolved an issue that we’d had since 2021.”

Also new to the advisory for pulse growers in 2025, flonicamid — the active ingredient in the insecticide product Carbine — is now classified as “amber,” or “be informed,” for green lentils only.

“This classification is due to uncertainty regarding the maximum residue limit (MRL) in the European Union for green lentils,” says Greg Bartley, director of crop protection and crop quality with Pulse Canada. “Growers are advised to consult with their grain buyers before using flonicamid on green lentils, as some buyers may not accept treated grain.”

Bartley, who is also Pulse Canada’s representative on the Keep it Clean team, adds that another update affecting pulse growers clarifies that glufosinate ammonium cannot be used on any pulse crop in Western Canada.

Zuzak notes that glufosinate is also not registered for use on cereal crops — which ties into broader messaging from Keep it Clean around off-label desiccant use. Even though glufosinate is registered as a late-season product on some crops, applying it off-label to cereals or pulses can create market access issues.

“We definitely want growers to have access to as many tools as possible,” Zuzak says. “But we just really want to be sure that growers are following the label as well.”

More information about the 2025 advisory is available online, and growers with questions should reach out to their grain buyers.

“We always recommend that growers check with their grain buyers to ensure the products they’re using are acceptable to both domestic and export markets,” Bartley says.

The post New risks flagged in this year’s ‘Keep it Clean’ list appeared first on Grainews.

Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan are seeking new uses for pulse starches in the food and biomaterial sectors.

Byproduct market research aims to reduce food waste, increase efficiency and add more value to crops grown on the Prairies.

While protein is often the goal for pulse crops in Western Canada, starch makes up more of the seed.

“When you look at the composition in the pulses, it’s about 40 to 50 per cent of pulse starch,” says Mehmet Tulbek, president of the Saskatchewan Food Industry Development Centre.

“So the protein is only 20, 22 to 24 per cent. When people sell it as a whole (grain), that’s a different story. But when they fractionate, the protein is more valuable. Then the second value is the fibre and the lowest value is the starch portion.”

The market value of protein to starch is now about 21 to one. As more uses for the starch are found, the value for it and for pulses as a whole could increase.

READ MORE: Research lights up pulse flours’ specific properties

Today, the most common use for pulse starches is as an additive in animal feed, although there are possible avenues for expansion as an ingredient in batters, breading, pastas, Chinese noodles and other snack foods.

“We’re creating this really high-value product in protein, but then we’ve got this starch left over,” says Amber Johnson, director of marketing and communications at Saskatchewan Pulse Growers.

The farm group is one of the industry stakeholders supporting research into pulse starches. Johnson is also on the national market development team working with Pulse Canada, which is focused on pulse market development and diversification.

In Manitoba alone, peas went from fewer than 100,000 planted acres a year to 191,400 acres reported this spring. That was helped by the entry of pea protein giant Roquette, which chose Portage la Prairie for its major pea protein plant.

“As interest in pea protein grew, it became very obvious to us that we needed better, higher-value uses for that starch byproduct and that’s kind of where this (research) and some other projects came to be,” Johnson says.

“And so, we’re one of several contributors to this particular project, in hopes to find more, higher-value uses for that starch component of the fractionation process.”

University of Saskatchewan research has shown that pulse starch has strong gelling capabilities, making it a strong contender as an ingredient for adding texture or firmness, or acting as a stabilizer in food. In a product like Chinese glass noodles, the starch could allow structure to set quicker and provide a firmer texture.

That same trait has applications for biomaterials. Depending on type of starch and what is mixed with it, a conductive hydrogel can be formed. In one case, a mixture of pea starch, polyvinyl alcohol, water and salt created a gel that was flexible and tensile even at -20 C.

Other potential materials include sheer films and packaging useful for pharmaceutical and industrial applications.

Pulse starch is also being considered for use in low-glycemic foods for human consumption. While this aspect of the research is ongoing, a modified dough made from the pea starch and water showed a reduction in glycemic response with human subjects.

In 2020, Pulse Canada and market research firm Euromonitor worked to price-index pulse starch according to end-use application. They found its use in paper and packaging could double the starch’s value, and industries such as bioplastics could nearly triple it. Uses in food and sports nutrition, pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals also have potential high value.

“There’s so many places that this could go and there’s a lot of factors to consider,” Johnson says. “Some of these really high-value markets have low volume because you only need a little bit of it to do what you’re trying to do. But that’s all a component of our market development strategy, which is all about diversifying (for sustainable demand).”

Tulbek notes that, while the entire world grows pulses and many countries have their own processing facilities, Canada can pack a major punch in the sector.

“Western Canada, they have the sustainably produced pulses, really high-quality pulses, that are ready for the marketplace,” Tulbek says.

Several processing and manufacturing companies across Canada and the United States use Canadian-grown pulses. Many are primarily focused on peas, but are getting into fababean and lentil processing as well.

However, the growth and market for pulse starches is ultimately determined by consumers.

“That speed (of growth) is really defined by the success of the product and the market acceptability,” Tulbek says. “If the market likes it, if consumers like it, or if there’s industrial application … it may be faster.”

He says he’s seen strong growth in pulse starch utilization over the last 10 years. Johnson adds that part of the growth is end-user education to increase interest and awareness about pulse possibilities.

“The more opportunities for these products that we can create, (that) means that there’ll be sustainable demand, which is really important for our producers,” she says.

The post Starch market search yields results for pulses appeared first on Grainews.

Canterra Seeds

AAC Beyond is an early-maturity yellow pea variety with high yield potential, yielding five per cent more than CDC Amarillo. It has medium to high protein content (about one per cent higher than CDC Amarillo on average) and features a smaller seed size and good seed coat breakage resistance. As well, AAC Beyond offers a good disease resistance package featuring a resistant rating for powdery mildew and a moderately resistant rating for fusarium root rot.

CS ProStar is a yellow pea developed by DL Seeds. It is also an early-maturity variety, making it suitable for areas with a short growing season where early harvest is a priority. CS ProStar has good yield potential, similar to CDC Amarillo, and it has very high protein content as well, about 1.5 per cent higher than CDC Amarillo on average. CS ProStar also features include improved seed coat breakage resistance compared to check varieties. It is resistant to powdery mildew and moderately resistant to fusarium root rot.

CDC 6928 is a small red lentil variety with good yield potential, yielding nine per cent more than CDC Maxim. It has a seed size similar to CDC Simmie and is slightly taller than the check variety. CDC 6928 features imidazolinone tolerance and its maturity and disease resistance ratings are similar to most commercial varieties.

CDC 6956 is a small red lentil variety with good yield potential, yielding eight per cent more than CDC Maxim. CDC 6956 features imidazolinone tolerance and its maturity, seed size, plant height, maturity and disease protection package are all similar to CDC Maxim and other current commercial lentil varieties.

FP Genetics

AAC Julius is a high-yielding, semi-leafless yellow pea, yielding eight per cent more than AAC Carver and three per cent more than CDC Hickie. This early-maturity variety has a small seed size and offers good resistance to seed coat breakage and dimpling. AAC Julius also features a higher protein content similar to AAC Profit.

Pitura Seeds

PS Boost is an early-maturity yellow pea variety developed by DL Seeds that has high yield potential and high protein content. It has very good resistance to seed coat breakage as well as good lodging resistance. PS Boost also features very good resistance to powdery mildew and good resistance to fusarium wilt.

SeCan

CDC Hickie is a mid-maturity yellow pea variety offering an excellent combination of high protein and high yield potential. On average, CDC Hickie yields four per more and has 0.5 per cent higher protein than CDC Amarillo. It has medium-sized seed with good resistance to seed coat breakage and seed coat dimpling. CDC Hickie is available from SeCan retailers in Manitoba and Alberta and is distributed by Saskatchewan Pulse Growers in Saskatchewan.

CDC Tollefson is a high-yielding, mid-maturity yellow pea. On average, CDC Tollefson yields six per cent more than CDC Amarillo and has 0.3 per cent lower protein than CDC Amarillo. It has medium-sized seed with good resistance to seed coat breakage and seed coat dimpling. CDC Tollefson is available from SeCan retailers in Manitoba and Alberta and is distributed by Saskatchewan Pulse Growers in Saskatchewan.

Valesco Genetics

Caphorn is a mid-maturity yellow pea developed by DL Seeds. It has average yield potential, higher than average protein content and larger than average seed size. Caphorn also has good lodging resistance, and it is resistant to fusarium wilt (race 1), bean yellow mosaic virus and powdery mildew.

The post New pulses pending for 2025 appeared first on Grainews.

Alberta Grains on Jan. 31 announced Tara Sawyer, who farms near Acme, as the chair for its inaugural board of directors. Sawyer previously served as Alberta Barley’s chair, and chaired the interim Alberta Grains board since the marriage of Alberta Barley and the Alberta Wheat Commission became official last August.

Scott Jespersen, who farms near Spruce Grove and had been a director with Alberta Barley since 2021, was named Alberta Grains’ first vice-chair. He had been the second vice-chair on the merged group’s interim board. Second vice-chair on the inaugural Alberta Grains board will be Devin Hartzler, who farms near Carstairs and had been an AWC director since 2020, also serving on the interim Alberta Grains board.

“There is so much opportunity in the industry as a whole and as a board, we’re leveraging that to ensure wheat and barley remain a top choice for farmers and end-users alike,” Sawyer said in a release.

The regional directors on the first official Alberta Grains board also include Dean Hubbard and David Bishop in Region 1, Stewart Oke and Dick Wymenga in Region 3, Shawn Jacula and Brent Christensen in Region 4 and Greg Sears and Tasha Alexander in Region 6. Sawyer and Hartzler represent Region 2, while Jespersen represents Region 5.

Alberta Canola, at its annual meeting Jan. 24, re-elected Roger Chevraux of Killam as chair and elected Charles Simoneau of Guy as the vice-chair.

Jeff Frost of Olds joins the Alberta Canola board representing Region 8, replacing Ian Chitwood, who’d served that region for six years.

The Alberta Pulse Growers Commission, which also held its annual general meeting Jan. 24, re-elected Shane Strydhorst of Neerlandia as its chair.

APG’s executive committee also includes Peter Konstapel of Spirit River, who returns as vice-chair and a Zone 4 representative, and past chair Robert Semeniuk of Smoky Lake, representing Zone 5.

New on the APG board is Michael Bury of Mannville, as director at large (non-bean). He replaces Bev Wieben of Fairview, who remains on the board but now as a director for Zone 4, the northwest and Peace region. Jerome Isaac, previously a director for Zone 4, was thanked for his service on the board.

The post Alberta crop commissions name leadership appeared first on Grainews.

But what about potassium?

Potassium (K) is critically important in helping provide water balance within a plant. The only way a plant can move sugar and nutrients is by moving water or sap within itself and it does that by pumping potassium from one part of the plant to another. Symptoms of deficiency vary among crop species, but they often mimic drought stress, and will show most severely on the oldest leaves.

With so much riding on it, potassium should be top of mind for most growers in Western Canada, right? Not exactly, says a leading agronomist.

Lyle Cowell, Nutrien’s senior agronomist for Canada, says the problem is that soil in Western Canada tended to be fairly high in potassium and farmers didn’t typically think about it. As a result, many didn’t replace the potassium their crops drew from the soil over time.

While the amount of potassium lost in a field in a single year is relatively low, Cowell says it can be substantial over decades and can lead to significantly reduced yields if left untreated.

Comfort zone

“We kind of got into a comfort zone of not applying potassium to many of our crops in Western Canada,” says Cowell.

“If a crop removes 15 to 20 pounds of potassium per year, it doesn’t sound like much. But over the course of a lot of farmers’ careers, they’ve probably removed 400 or 500 pounds of the most available potassium and haven’t replaced it.

“Farmers recognize that whole scenario with nitrogen and phosphorus: you’ve got to put some on if you’re going to take some off. That seems to be embedded into the management thinking of farmers.

“We seem to be missing that with potassium, and we have to start thinking about that a little bit harder.”

Higher crop yields in the past 20 years have compounded the issue, boosting the amount of potassium withdrawn from the soil. Newer crops like soybeans require far more potassium than others.

Cowell says he is seeing more cases of potassium-deficient soils compared with a few decades ago. That is likely due in part to rising potash prices, which prompted producers to trim costs and stop using it.

“Unfortunately, that habit has hung on a little too long now. We’ve removed 300 or 400 or 500 pounds of potassium per acre from our crops without applying anything and now we’re in trouble in what were the marginally deficient soils.”

A hit to the bottom line

Once soil has become potassium deficient, it can have an enormous effect on yields, according to Cowell. In rare cases, it can lead to complete crop loss. A more common scenario is a yield loss of 10 to 20 per cent, which can be a significant hit to the bottom line.

While crops, such as soybeans, remove large amounts of potassium, much of it eventually cycles back into the soil. Unlike nitrogen, phosphorus or sulphur, very little potassium is removed with harvest but remains in crop residue.

Don Flaten, a professor emeritus in the soil science department at the University of Manitoba, says one of the most common symptoms of potassium deficiency is when older parts of the plant appear chlorotic and leaves begin to yellow, especially at the tips and margins.

Cowell says another common sign appears within a canola crop that is swathed and then sits in the field for three or four weeks. The potassium leaches back into the soil before harvest and the following year’s crop grows better where the previous year’s swathes were laid.

“Nine times out of 10, you’re looking at a potassium deficiency (in that spot),” he says.

Flaten says forages, and particularly alfalfa, are large consumers of potassium and are particularly sensitive to potassium deficiency. With a forage crop, the entire plant is removed, along with its potassium.

In Western Canada, barley is sensitive to potassium deficiency and is one of the crops most likely to show problems, he added.

Pay attention to potassium levels

Soil testing is the best way to measure potassium levels in a field, establish any deficiency problem and determine severity, says Cowell. He suggests more testing should be done and the information farmers receive from those tests should be analyzed more closely.

“When farmers do soil sampling, they usually do measure potassium levels in the soil,” he says. “The problem is that we don’t look at that number. Our eyes are always glued on the nitrogen level, maybe the phosphorus level. Sometimes we just don’t pay attention to the potassium number.”

Cowell cautions that soil testing only provides averages for a field.

“I think farmers would do well to start thinking about dividing their fields into segments. That way, if you’re in a situation where there is marginal potassium deficiency based on a whole field sample, you probably should be thinking about sampling the areas of that field that are most likely to be potassium deficient and checking to see if those areas of the field are severely deficient.

“Potassium can present a great opportunity for variable rate fertilizer application.”

In addition to soil testing, Cowell suggests that farmers take a closer look at the nutrient balance of their soil and crop rotations. This will allow them to compare how much of each nutrient is removed versus how much they apply and address any shortcomings.

He says determining those numbers has become much easier thanks to the recent release of the Prairie Nutrient Removal Calculator, which was developed by soil scientists at the University of Saskatchewan.

Growers don’t have to choose from a myriad of products to address potassium deficiency, he adds. Fertilizer potassium, or potash, is the only common product available.

How much and how to apply potash largely depends on a farmer’s management strategies, he says. For some, that could mean applying small amounts each year and for others it could mean spreading larger loads every few years.

The post Are your fields potassium deficient? appeared first on Grainews.

Prairie Fava

Allison is a coloured, flower-type faba bean from DL Seeds with excellent processing characteristics. This earlier maturity variety has a smaller seed size and features improved yield and a low vicine/low covicine content.

Secan

CDC Hickie is a medium-sized, semi-leafless yellow pea with high yield, high protein and a durable seed coat. Relative maturity is 95 days. On average, CDC Hickie yields seven per cent higher than CDC Amarillo, with 0.5 per cent higher protein. Seed size is rated as 230 grams per 1,000 seeds. Vine length and maturity are both considered medium, and it has good resistance to seed coat breakage. CDC Hickie is available through Saskatchewan Pulse Growers in Saskatchewan and in the rest of Canada through SeCan business members.

Seednet

CDC Citrine is a mid-maturity yellow pea with very high yield and very good standability. The protein potential of CDC Citrine is 0.5 per cent higher than CDC Amarillo, and it also has slightly improved resistance to mycosphaerella blight and improved resistance to fusarium root rot. CDC Citrine has good seed characteristics and has good resistance to seed coat breakage.

AAC Planet is a mid-maturity yellow pea with high yield and good standability. The protein potential is 1.4 per cent higher than check varieties, and AAC Planet also features good resistance to seed coat breakage.

Stamp Seeds

DL Nevado is a medium-sized, mid-maturity faba bean from DL Seeds with high yield, higher protein and good standability. It has a low vicine/low covicine content, making it suitable for fractionation and the faba bean flour market. DL Nevado also has a low tannin content, making it suitable as a feed faba bean.

Felix is a small-seeded faba bean variety from Valesco Genetics. Developed by Montana State University, Felix has a black seed coat and seed size is about 210 grams per 1,000 seeds. It is targeted for the cover crop and forage markets.

Valesco Genetics

Victus is a low vicine, low tannin-type faba bean developed by DL Seeds that is similar agronomically to Fabelle in yield, seed size and maturity but has higher protein content, lower vicine content and higher tolerance to chocolate spot. Victus will be available to western Canadian farmers in 2024 either through IP contracts from local processors or from seed companies in Canada and the United States.

The post Pulse crop varieties for 2024 appeared first on Grainews.

Hay quality is rated as four per cent excellent, 48 per cent good, 34 per cent fair and 14 per cent poor. Concerns about a potential hay shortage continue, as many hay swaths are significantly smaller than normal and pasture growth has been limited.

The Ministry of Agriculture has a Forage, Feed and Custom Service listing for producers to advertise and source feed products.

Rainfall over the weekend has helped alleviate moisture stress issues in some areas; however, more rain will be needed to help crops fill. Some areas received only small amounts of rainfall while others reported several inches. Topsoil moisture conditions have slightly improved in much of the province. Provincially, topsoil moisture conditions on cropland are rated as one per cent surplus, 44 per cent adequate, 36 per cent short and 19 per cent very short. Hay land and pasture topsoil moisture is rated as 33 per cent adequate, 39 per cent short and 28 per cent very short.

Fifty-nine per cent of fall cereals, 62 per cent of spring cereals, 60 per cent of oilseeds and 58 per cent of pulse crops are at their normal stages of development for this time of year. Crop conditions vary throughout the province, but the majority of crops are in poor-to-good condition. Lack of moisture and insects such as grasshoppers and wheat midge have caused the most crop damage this week.

Farmers are busy controlling pests and cutting hay.

To read the full report, with a complete breakdown of crop districts, visit the Government of Saskatchewan website.

The post Rainfall relieves some dry areas of Sask., but more needed for crops to fill out appeared first on Grainews.

The first department head of the newly constituted Soil Science Department, University of Saskatchewan (1919) was Roy Hanson, a soil microbiologist. His first observation was “we need to grow legume crops to arrest the sharp drop in soil nitrogen that has happened with just a few years of cultivation.”

Legume crops at that time were perennial — alfalfa, clovers, etc. Perennial legumes in rotation and green manure crops were a mainstay of soil conservation in Europe, the U.K. and eastern North America. But, they failed miserably in the northern Great Plains in the U.S. and the Palliser Triangle in Western Canada. Alfalfa is a big “suck” for water and lowers the water table over time. The first crops after a perennial forage of any kind were a bust unless a super wet year came along.

Fast forward to the 1970s. The newly formed Crop Development Centre at the University of Saskatchewan had a mandate to develop new crops to reduce reliance on wheat. This was especially true in the brown and dark brown soil zones where canola was not suited. At that time canola (then called rapeseed) was considered to be a black soil zone crop.

The young Crop Development Centre was able to recruit Dr. Al Slinkard, a pulse crop breeder, to Saskatchewan from the U.S. Pacific Northwest of the. Al quickly established lentil as a viable crop for the drier regions. Lentil was especially adapted to the clay belt of west central Saskatchewan and the Regina plains. The crop not only survived in the drier years, but thrived. Level land with no stones was ideal for a short crop like lentils. In the R.M. of Milden No. 286, where this old scribe was raised, much of the net worth of many farmers today is a result of lentil over the past 30 years or so.

It was our great fortune in the 1970s to work with Al on the water and nutrient requirements of many crops, including lentil, pea and fababean. The work showed that lentil was not a great irrigation crop, but fababean was.

Saskatchewan has become the world leader in lentil export and pea is also an important crop. On my little farm, growing pea every four year has been an important part of the rotation since 2001.

But, the current wet spell and disease of both pea and lentil have required a rethink of crops. Many farmers I have talked to are ready to give up on pea as a crop because of disease. To include a new legume, many have opted for soybeans, and some quite successfully. But, there have been busts along the way also.

But, why do we want to compete head on with soybean growers in the U.S. (and the U.S. treasury) and huge acres in Brazil? A big push for soybean is the companies that want to sell us expensive seed. And, we do not need or even want another glyphosate-resistant crop.

Glyphosate is a major kingpin in our current zero-till, continuous-crop agriculture. Without glyphosate we must rethink our entire cropping system in much of Western Canada. And, the more glyphosate resistant crops we have the quicker resistant weeds will come along.

Fababean was grown in the 1970s in the irrigation area at Outlook and in the Norquay region of east central Saskatchewan — a wet area. At that time straight cut headers were not used so fababeans were swathed. They made a miserable swath and if it got wet it was bad news.

The crop all but disappeared but is making a comeback. Folks I have talked to that grew them this year have all straight cut the crop. Fababean is a longer season crop but it can be seeded early like peas.

For fababean to become an important crop the research priority is market development — particularly the attributes of the bean itself and uses for it. That is what made canola a “made in Canada” crop. The Americans were very slow to take up canola, leaving most of the market to us. Maybe we can do the same with fababean?

Our Crop Development Center, University of Saskatchewan, (Bert Vandenberg and colleagues) has an active fababean program. Let us cheer them on and make sure resources are in place to develop a crop that can complete the legume requirement for long-term rotation success.

The post Fababeans: our next Cinderella crop appeared first on Grainews.

1. Using land rollers

Pulses, particularly lentils, are fairly short crops, says Risula, and the machinery that’s used to cut them is often very close to the ground. Rollers are used to flatten out any grooves that the seeder may have caused and also to push stones back into the soil so that they’re no longer an obstruction to the combine operation.

Rollers should be used after seeding, following emergence and between the five- to seven-node stage in lentils and the five-node stage in peas, says Risula. Beyond that, land rolling can damage plants, reduce yields and spread foliar diseases, so it is not recommended.

In chickpeas, land rollers are less beneficial since they don’t usually lodge and they have higher stubble. Post-emergent land rolling is not recommended, especially since it can spread disease, like ascochyta blight, which is always a potentially devastating problem in chickpeas.

When rolling, the best results are obtained when soils are not wet, says Neil Whatley, crop specialist with Alberta Ag-Info Centre. Under wet conditions, the roller could build up mud, damage seedlings and not pack correctly.

Rolling when crops are damp is also not recommended since it can spread disease. Avoid rolling if the seedlings have been under stress — extreme heat, frost or herbicide application. Whatley recommends leaving three days between herbicide application or frost and rolling.

Finally, it’s best not to roll first thing in the morning when plants have more turgor pressure, he says. Stems are stiffer and more apt to break. For best results, wait until 10 am or noon to begin rolling.

• More Grainews: Large lentil crop facing weather concerns

2. Using a desiccant

As harvest approaches, pulse crops are nearing the end of their maturity. Pulse crops have an indeterminate growing nature, so their time to mature can vary, says Risula. To help break that vegetative growth and initiate the maturity process, some sort of stress is needed.

As that maturity date approaches, it’s really important that the weather cooperates. Until the crop is ripe, frost needs to be avoided.

“Also, just as the time approaches when you want to either desiccate or apply some pre-harvest herbicide to the crop or swath it before harvesting — that the weather be dry and not rainy,” he says. “Warm, dry days are in order when it comes to harvesting pulse crops.”

If the crop is treated with glyphosate, notes Risula, it shouldn’t be used for seed.

Weather can also damage and downgrade pulse crops, he says. Peas, in particular, are quite vulnerable to damage, green peas, especially.

“Colour is an important factor in determining the quality of the pea,” says Risula. “If there’s any degree of bleaching, then it’s downgraded. Bleaching occurs when the swathed crop is exposed to combinations of bright sunlight and rain showers. It seems to worsen the affect of bleaching on green peas.”

3. When to combine

Pulse crops will reach the maturity stage at around 30 per cent moisture content. At that point in time, they’re ready for either swathing or pre-harvest applications of herbicide. They then need to dry so they can be threshed or combined. The best time to combine is at around 18 per cent moisture content. Some growers, says Risula, prefer to wait until the crop is at 15 per cent moisture content.

“I guess it depends on how experienced they are and what kind of machinery they have,” he says. “Pulse crops, if they’re too dry, tend to chip and downgrade in value. If they’re very dry, the seed coat will chip and crack. That’s why a lot of producers will begin harvesting around 18 per cent moisture content.”

Seed coats are also prone to damage if they’re handled at high speeds, too. “Basically, the machinery that’s being utilized for threshing the pulse crops need to be operated at slower speeds.” Great care should be taken when transferring grain through augers and into bins so that it is not subjected to high speeds or lengthy falls.

4. Storing pulse crops

Often, conditioning is required very soon after freshly harvested pulses are binned, Risula says. If the crop was harvested on a hot day, it will need to be cooled to an acceptable level in an aeration bin. Risula says that 15°C or cooler is ideal because crops will sweat after they’re harvested.

“Some of that moisture is emitted as a gas and accumulates within the bin around the seed,” he says. “Then it’s subject to all sorts of movement and gathering points within the bin where hot spots and deterioration of the grain could occur.”

Similarly, if the crop is harvested when the moisture content is too high, it needs to be dried as well. “Generally, somewhere around 14 per cent, or in the case of red lentils, a lot of processors require that it be stored at around 13 per cent.”

It’s not a good idea to store new crop on old crop, says Risula. It tends to reduce the quality of the crop, especially lentils, which can turn brown and lose value quickly. “New crop should be stored by itself,” he concludes.

The post How to harvest pulse crops appeared first on Grainews.

“There isn’t really very solid data out there, partly because lentil surveys aren’t done every year, and partly because not everybody involved in the industry finds it easy to recognize stemphylium blight. Symptoms look similar to other, more well-known, lentil pathogens,” she explains. “This is likely why it hasn’t received much attention — because it has been misdiagnosed.”

Banniza and her team are embarking on the fourth year of a five-year study of stemphylium blight in lentils. The study began, in part, because commercial seed testing labs began frequently identifying the pathogen in seed samples.

Stemphylium problems

According to Faye Dokken-Bouchard, a provincial plant disease specialist in Saskatchewan, stemphylium blight has been identified as a problem in the province, but infection isn’t consistent year to year. “In 2010, the disease was observed in over 80 per cent of the lentil crops surveyed in Saskatchewan, but the levels remained around 35 per cent in 2011, 2012, and 2013,” she says, citing data from small-scale surveys conducted by the provincial government.

In lentils, the symptoms of stemphylium blight appear very similar to those of sclerotinia and botrytis. Dokken-Bouchard says that stemphylium blight initially appears as small, light beige lesions on leaves and leaflets, both above and under the canopy.

“Prolonged moist periods promote further infections and give the upper canopy a grey-brown appearance,” she explains. “As is common in other lentil diseases, infected leaflets fall to the ground, serving as a source of spores for future infections of a wide range of plants.”

Unlike sclerotinia, no white fluffy mould or black sclerotia are visible to the naked eye, says Dokken-Bouchard, and unlike botrytis, no grey fuzzy mould is visible under a magnifying glass or microscope.

• More from the Grainews website: Clearfield-friendly herbicide cleared for Clearfield lentils

Banniza explains that stemphylium blight differs in another way from other common lentil diseases. As opposed to diseases such as anthracnose or ascochyta blight, which spread in wet conditions when spores are splashed, the stemphylium blight pathogen has airborne spores. This means spores can spread on windy days even in dry conditions, and affect not just lentil but other crops as well.

However, moisture is still necessary for the disease to flourish.

“Moisture is a big aspect of stemphylium’s epidemiology, for infection but not for the spread of the disease,” explains Banniza. “Because of that, we see this disease more when the canopy has developed, because that’s when the plants retain moisture for longer periods, compared to seedlings, which dry up relatively quickly even after rain.”

Yield impact

It isn’t fully clear yet how much stemphylium blight impacts lentil yields. Anecdotal evidence from farmers suggests that the disease can have a significant impact on yield, but this has yet to be confirmed with research data.

Banniza and her team are midway into field tests investigating the point at which stemphylium blight causes yield loss, but because the fungus is an airborne pathogen it’s difficult to do that research — for example, knowing when to time the infection can be tricky.

Initial findings suggest that the disease may impact yield most when infection occurs at early flowering. If the infection takes root toward harvest, however, it may potentially serve as a natural desiccant, says Banniza.

However, if the spores spread early in the season, growers may have a problem on their hands.

“We’ve done one year of field tests, so this is very preliminary, but it looks like early flowering is a critical point,” says Banniza. “So if you get infection in early to mid-flowering you will see a direct impact on yield.”

However, infection can also cause seed staining, so even if there is no reduction in the quantity of seeds, seed staining can impact growers’ return if their crop is downgraded.

And seed staining could result from infection even after early to mid-flowering. “That may mean that even at a somewhat later stage, the fungus can cause economic damage,” says Banniza.

She says that it’s too soon to make recommendations for stemphylium blight management, but concerned growers can employ the same management strategies they’d use for related diseases. “The positive aspect of this is that the fungicides used for ascochyta blight or anthracnose are also effective against stemphylium blight, so it’s a question of ensuring the appropriate timing,” she says.

While Banniza emphasizes that the project is still in its early stages, answers are not far out of reach. “Hopefully by next year we’ll have a better idea of what critical points are in the lentil crop where you want to prevent infection by this pathogen to prevent yield loss,” she says.

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