2023 Pulse and Special Crops Regional Variety Trials

One of the pillars of best management practices for every crop is selecting varieties that are well-suited to your growing environment and spread production risk. The Alberta Pulse Growers (APG) continues to fund the pulse regional trials as the information generated empowers farmers to make informed decisions.

All data included in this publication is vetted for information gaps and accuracy. The trial cooperators are frequently contacted for further inputs and clarification. Data is statistically analysed. The following rules apply for pulse regional trial data to be included in the Alberta Seed Guide tables:

Yield data will be considered acceptable for inclusion of the compiled analysis if the trial CV, from all four replicates, is less than 12 per cent and there are no other oddities between replicates for varieties.
Site data may be included in the overall analysis is if it has passed inspection and the yield data has a CV between 12 to 15 per cent if the cultivar ANOVA is significant at p<0.05. Where the yield data has a CV between 15 to 20 per cent it may be accepted if the cultivar ANOVA is significant at p<0.01.
Multi-year data tables are generated to provide information on production potentials over several growing seasons.

Beginning in 2022 and moving forward, site information is compiled into soil zones (brown-irrigated, brown, black-short season, black-mid season and grey wooded). To view a map of the soil zones for the newly tested varieties visit our website.

• Yield of the check variety is indicated in bold, with test varieties reported as a percentage of that check variety. Please be aware that direct variety comparisons should only be made with the check.
• The pulse regional variety trial (RVT) protocol is updated annually. The protocol includes site selection parameters, fertility requirements, seeding dates, inoculation, pesticides, and details for data collection. The trials are conducted in a randomized in complete block design with four replications.

Along with funding it takes a team of dedicated people to establish a regional variety trial program. There are many steps including: seed set-up, planting plots, maintaining plots, harvesting and analysis. Thanks to all those involved in making this process work: The Pulse RVT program is a collaborative initiative involving APG, Lakeland College, and several crops research cooperators. APG provides funding, direction and expertise. Research cooperators conduct the field variety testing. Lakeland College provides seed treating and distribution as well as managing four pulse RVT sites. Sheri’s Ag Consulting Inc., provides data analysis for generation of the multi site-year data in the Alberta Seed Guide. AgCall is contracted by APG to provide project and data management, oversight, administration, and in-season site evaluations. A committee of dedicated seed variety contributors, plant breeders, pathologists, and researchers review and ensure the data is presented accurately. This committee is comprised of individuals that have knowledge of pulse RVT programs in other prairie provinces, pulse breeders, pulse distributors, and members who also sit on the Prairie Recommending Committee for Pulse and Special Crops. This group stives to ensure congruence of data to the highest quality scientific standards.

Yearly trial results are greatly impacted by the growing season conditions. The 2023 growing season started off dry, but timely rains resulted in generally good growing conditions at most locations. Some sites suffered from the early season dryness resulting in the loss of data from some sites. In 2023, data from two lentil trials, nine green pea trials, eight yellow pea trials and nine faba bean trials was added to the historical database. Staring in 2023, lentil registration data from Alberta sites was added to the historical database to increase the number of site-years.