b'PGDC PUTS END USERS FIRSTWhether its paying mind to wheat classes or looking at third-party testing of vicine/convicine in faba bean, the Prairie Grain Development Committee has the consumer in mind.Marc ZienkiewiczTHE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWANSnew flax breeder got to put forward his first flax line this year at the annual meet-ing of the Prairie Grain Development Committee (PGDC). Bunyamin Taran, who took over for Helen Booker as the USask flax breeder in 2020, saw the flax line FP2591 recommended for registration this year.The brown-seeded line spent three years in co-op trials and sports a yield 5-6% higher than CDC Glas. FP2591 was the highest yielding line in the last three years of co-op trials. Taran says he looks forward to releasing more in the next couple of years, including some yellow-seeded flax lines.Yellow-seed flax seems to be more appealing for the consumer, he says. Instead of seeing a brown seed in your bread, for example, a yellow seed imparts a nice golden colour and can be little bit more appealing.That kind of forward thinking was on full display this year at the PGDC meetings. A major theme during the plenary session was designing the seed system of the future: updates were provided on Seed Regulatory Modernization (SRM) and changes to Canadas novel food regulations, which are currently under review by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency after Health Canada recently issued new guidance on them. Bunaymin Taran is flax breeder at the University of Saskatchewan. Under Health Canadas new guidance, many foodsPhoto: Christina Weesederived from gene edited plants will not be considered novel, opening the door for breeders to use new tech-niques to create new crop varieties. vicine/convicine faba beans, which could be a new, But it was more than just breeding itself that was onhigh-value crop for farmers. Last year was the first time the minds of attendees this year. As breeders are nowbreeders of faba beans had to prove that their faba bean able to breed new lines to better meet the needs of theline contains low vicine levels in order to enter into faba market, those same breeders have to be able to showbean trials. their line meets those needs in order to be successfullySomething we are grappling with is if theres a need commercialized. for unbiased third-party testing of this material before A case in point is faba bean. While the faba beanwe can vote on and provide a true recommendation. plant is high in protein, well-suited to growing in colderTransparency in data sets is hugely important. The last climates, and capable of virtually eliminating the needthing we want to do is make a recommendation on a line for fertilizer, it has one fatal flawfor an estimatedthat doesnt meet our specs, says Glen Hawkins, chair 400 million people worldwide, eating the bean can haveof the Prairie Recommending Committee for Pulses and severe health consequences. In people deficient in aSpecial Crops (PRCPSC).certain enzyme, consuming faba bean causes damage toIn the next five to seven years, Canadas faba bean a persons red blood cells due to the naturally occurringacreage on the Prairies will hopefully consist of 100% compounds vicine and convicine. low vicine lines, Hawkins said. Its the kind of big-picture As a result, breeders are meeting demand for lowthinking thats becoming more prevalent as the agricul-36GERMINATION.CAMARCH 2022'