Page 193 - Plant Canada 2024 Proceeding

PLANT CANADA 2024

[O176a] EFFECT OF ROW SPACINGS/GEOMETRY AND RATES OF S APPLICATION ON ALFALFA
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YIELD AND QUALITY IN NORTHERN ONTARIO. Tarlok Singh Sahota , Harmeet Singh , Mikala Parr ,
David Thompson , and Kim Jo Bliss . LUARS, 5790 Little Norway Road, Thunder Bay, ON, P7J 1G1;
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2 Level Six, 99 Foster Dr, Sault Ste. Marie, ON P6A 5X6; and EARS, Chapple, ON P0W 1E0
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Correspondence to: tssahota@lakeheadu.ca

A field experiment with combinations of three row spacings/geometries (regular seedings at 6-7” row
spacings, missing an alternate row and missing one row after every two rows by keeping the seed rate
constant in the three cases) and four rates of S application (0, 24, 36 and 48 kg S ha all at seeding or
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early spring and 48 kg S ha applied in two splits; half at seeding/early spring and half after the first cut)
replicated four times in RCBD was conducted during 2020-’23 at Thunder Bay, and during 2020-’22 at
Algoma and Emo. In two out of three years at Thunder Bay, missing one row after every two rows
produced the highest dry matter yield (DMY) of alfalfa. However, averaged over three years, row spacings
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recorded the similar DMY (6.05 to 6.29 Mg ha ). Pre seeding soil test for S was 6 ppm at Thunder Bay
and 8 ppm at Algoma. Averaged over three years, DMY increased linearly with the application of S up to
36 kg S ha (from 5.82 Mg to 6.59 Mg ) and exhibited a Law of Diminishing Returns thereafter. At
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Algoma, DMY of alfalfa increased with the application of 24 kg S ha . Rates higher than 24 kg S ha
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didn’t improve the DMY further. Row spacings or application of S didn’t influence DMY of alfalfa at Emo.
Feed quality was tested only at Thunder Bay, where averaged over three years, protein content (19.1%-
19.5%) or RFV (127-128) in the first cut didn’t vary much with the row spacings. Same was true for the
second cut (21.3-21.5% protein and 126-129 RFV). Highest first cut protein content was obtained with 24
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kg S ha (20%) and the highest RFV with the 48 kg S ha applied in two splits (131). In the second cut,
highest protein content was recorded with 36 kg S ha (21.7%) and the highest RFV (131) with 24 kg S
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ha . Application of S @ 36 kg S ha could be recommended at Thunder Bay, and @ 24 kg S ha at
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Algoma.

[O176b] CLIMATE CONDITIONS IN THE NEAR-TERM, MID-TERM AND DISTANT FUTURE FOR
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GROWING SOYBEANS IN CANADA. Budong Qian , Ward Smith , Qi Jing , Yong Min Kim , Guillaume
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Jégo , Brian Grant , Scott Duguid , Ken Hester , and Alison Nelson . Ottawa Research and Development
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Centre, Science and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0C6;

2 Brandon Research and Development Centre, Science and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-
Food Canada, Brandon, MB R7A 5Y3; Québec Research and Development Centre, Science and
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Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Québec, QC G1V 2J3; Morden Research and

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Development Centre, Science and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Morden, MB

R6M 1Y5; Oilseeds, Pulses, Special Crops and Industrial Bioproducts, Market and Industry Services
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Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0C5; and Director’s Office RDT Manitoba,
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Science and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Winnipeg, MB R3C 3G7

Correspondence to: budong.qian@agr.gc.ca

The soybean industry in Canada aimed to extensively expand soybean production to benefit from new
early-maturing varieties and the warming climate. However, setbacks in the soybean industry since 2017
demonstrated the impacts of climate risk and global market uncertainty. Therefore, a better understanding
of future climate conditions that will impact soybean growth in Canada is needed for decision-making in
the sector, such as prioritizing regions for expansion and developing climate change adaptation strategies
through either agronomic management practices or breeding new cultivars. Based on climate projections
from a set of global climate models, we analyzed climate conditions for growing soybeans including
growing season start, crop heat units, precipitation, precipitation deficits, and climate extremes, in the
near-term (2030s), the mid-term (2050s) and the distant future (2070s). We found that a future warmer
climate with an increase of 1.6, 2.8 and 4.1°C in the growing season (May – September) mean
temperature averaged over Canada’s land area in the near-term, mid-term and distant future under
SSP3-7.0, would favour the expansion of soybean production further north and west. However, an
increase of approximately 200 mm in precipitation deficits on the semiarid Canadian Prairies in the mid
term would constrain soybean production unless irrigation could be introduced. Heat- and drought-
tolerant cultivars should be developed to adapt soybean production to a changing climate, in addition to
the adoption of late-maturing cultivars that would benefit from the lengthened growing season and
increased crop heat units.

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