Ellen Sparry, C&M Seeds and Joanna Follings, OMAFRA

FarmSmart Conference

January 23, 2015

From wheat quality to quality wheat..

• Milling and end-use

• Genetics

• Agronomy

Wheat Classes Market Class Traits and Uses

Bakery products (cakes, pastries) flat breads, crackers, fillingsLower protein

Good milling and baking qualityFrench breads, flat breads, steamed breads, noodlesRange of protein contentBakery products (cakes, pastries), breakfast cerealsLower protein

Highest protein, excellent milling and baking

Pasta (from semolina), couscous,

Used along or in blends for hearth bread, steamed bread, noodles,

flat bread, common wheat pastaWhole 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)

Winter Durum

(CEAD)

Hard red spring

wheat (CEHRS)

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

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

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?

Soft Wheat Flour End-Products

Range of requirements for GLUTEN STRENGTH

Gluten - concentration and composition determines strength

GLUTEN STRENGTH

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

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 ...

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

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 **

Farinograph

American wheat Chinese wheat

German wheat English wheat

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

And the final requirement ....

Consistency ....

R&D – Meeting Market Needs

R&D - Meeting Market Needs

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 ....

The Importance of Protein

13.5% Protein

10.0% Protein

Variety is a significant factor of both flour protein and gluten strength

Yield vs Protein

65

70

75

80

85

90

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Yie

ld, b

u/a

cre

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

11.0

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Gra

in P

rote

in, %

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

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

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)

Choosing the right variety

Confidential 25

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

Provincial Winter Wheat Yields 1981 - 2015

y=1.0002x-1931.8

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Yieldbu/ac

Trendline yield 84.6

Nitrogen

• Optimum rate of nitrogen depends on:

– Crop being grown

– Past applications of manure or fertilizer

– Soil type

– Crop rotation

Nitrogen timing

(lbs/ac)

Yield (bu/ac) Yield Impact¹

(bu/ac)

90 spring 82.2

30 fall + 90 spring 84.6 -3.8

120 spring 88.4

30 fall + 120 spring 88.7 -2.4

150 spring 91.1

P. Johnson, S. McClure 2011-2013 (18 locations)

¹ Yield compared to equal nitrogen all applied in spring

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

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

Fungicides

• Fungicides have become an integral part of cereal production

• Fusarium

• Other leaf diseases

NSU Extension

New Brunswick Department of Agriculture

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

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

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

Yie

ld (

bu

/ac)

N Rate (lb/ac)

Nitrogen Response Curve

With Fungicide

No Fungicide

P. Johnson and S.McClure, OMAFRA 2013-2014

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

Weed control

Cowbrough, OMAFRA

Negatively Affect Grain Quality

Cowbrough, OMAFRA

Ideal stage for herbicide applications

Herbicide applications at this stage increase the risk of crop

injury that negatively affects yield

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

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

A Glance at the 2016 Winter Wheat Crop

• ~1 million acres seeded

– HRW 10%

– SWW 9%

– SRW 81%

• Excellent fall weather conditions

• 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

esparry@redwheat.com

@Ellen_Sparry (twitter)

519-343-2126

joanna.follings@ontario.ca @onfieldcrops (twitter)

519-271-8180

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