Organic Wheat Participatory Plant Breeding
Martin Entz, Michelle Carkner, University of Manitoba
To evaluate oat varieties for organic production.
The majority of the entries in this test are unregistered varieties. The yield and plant heights are provided for reference and to allow interested producers to track the entries in the future. The low yields and short plant heights are due to low precipitation and high competition resulting from regrowth of the alfalfa green manure crop. The variability between replications was high and results should be interpreted with caution.
The Participatory Plant Breeding project has been led by the Natural Systems Agriculture Laboratory,
University of Manitoba. The project’s objective is to develop cultivars that are relevant to farmers’
needs by conducting selection in the farm environment. A second aim is to give farmers more control
over seed resources by helping them to develop and maintain their own varieties. The project is coming
to an end in March 2022. Several promising lines have been identified by farmers that will be brought to
commercial production.