Abiotic Stress Adaptation, Agronomy and Physiology in Northern Areas.

The predominant landscape features of Canada are rock, bog, water and forest.  Only 7.3% of the land or 68 million ha, is farmland, and of that, only 35 million ha is suitable for crops.  The Köppen system classifies the majority of Canada’s crop land as Humid Continental, with cold winter months and an even distribution of yearly precipitation.  The predominant abiotic stress in Canada is the length and severity of the winters.  Cold temperatures tolerance and short-season adaptation has preoccupied plant breeders.  Cool temperatures at different times of the year can also affect seed components and quality.  Agronomy has developed methods to aid in crop adaptation, growth and yield in cool climates.  Heat stress, which occurs on occasion, can also affect yield of crops adapted to cooler climates.  In the brown soil zones of the south-central prairies evaporation often exceeds precipitation resulting in drought and saline soils.  The talk will examine techniques used to select for winter and ice encasement tolerance in winter wheat, and heat stress tolerance in canola. As well it will examine the influence of temperature on isoflavone development and seed coat discoloration in soybean.