Lesson 2. Part 1.

Seeds and seeding

• Crop cultivar selection

• Seed testing
• Seeding rates
• Seeding depth
• Seed size
• Intercrop options
• Forages and cover crops

2
 What to look for:
• Market class
• Yield and quality
• Days to maturity

Plus

• Disease resistance
• Height

Source: Seed Manitoba, 2021

3
 Seed borne diseases a problem in organic

Smut in wheat
4
Source: Alberta Agriculture 5
Have the varieties been tested in organic production?

6
Popular conventionally-bred

7
Selected under
organic by scientists

8
Selected under
organic by farmers

9
10
11
12
Popular conventionally-bred

13
Selected under
organic by farmers

14
 Average yield of High Yielding Locations from 7 site-years
Average yield of Low Yielding Locations from 7 under organic production
site-years under organic production
60
30
50
25
Yield (bu/ac)

40

Yield (bu/ac)
20

15 30
10 20
5
10
0
0
AAC Vesper AAC Zealand Jake CDC
AAC Vesper AAC Zealand Jake CDC Kernen
Brandon Tradition Kernen
Brandon Tradition

Source: M. Carkner

15
Barley – by variety
18 bu/ac difference
between Cowboy and
CDC Austenson

16
 Oat variety response to intercropping
3500
a
3000 ab ab a
b ab ab
2500
ns 2500 kg/ha = 71 bushels/acre
ns b ns ns
2000
Kg/ha
1500
1000
500
0
Kongsore FB Alberta CDC Dancer AC Morgan
mono pea vetch

Oat varieties grown alone and as intercrops with pea and

hairy vetch, Glenlea, Manitoba, 2021. Flood and Entz,
unpublished

17
 Waskada Waskada
Seeding rate 150 plants/m2 350 plants/m2

June 16 2016 18
 Waskada
150 plants/m2

19
 Cardale Cardale Cardale
150 plants/m2 250 plants/m2 350 plants/m2

June 16 2016 20
Wheat – by seeding rate – yield

On average dockage decreased

48% between seeding rates

21
 Fig. 4. Return for organic field pea combined for 4 site-years.
Bars indicate standard error of the means. Regression lines
indicate average price received (*), 2005 selling price (---), and
2006 selling price (...).

Baird, J.M., Walley, F.L. and Shirtliffe, S.J., 2009. Optimal seeding rate for organic production of field pea in
the northern Great Plains. Canadian journal of plant science, 89(3), pp.455-464.
22
Soybean Cultivar Response to Planting Date and Seeding Rate under Organic Management. 2011. Jeffrey A.
Coulter,* Craig C. Sheaffer, Milton J. Haar, Donald L. Wyse, and James H. Orf . University of Minnesota

• Minnesota organic soybean growers using mechanical weed

control do not need to adjust cultivar selection or seeding rate
according to planting date.

• Lack of a seeding rate effect on weed density at harvest and

soybean yield indicates no advantage for organic growers to
increase seeding rate from 160,000 to 220,0000 seeds/acre,
assuming that soybean density at harvest is at least 120,000
plants/acre with the low seeding rate.

http://www.misa.umn.edu/prod/groups/cfans/@pub/@cfans/@misa/documents/asset/cfans_asset_380295.pdf
 1” (2.5 cm) Seeding Depth 2.5” (5 cm) Seeding Depth
Seeding depth

June 16 2016 24
Deep seeding
reduces yield
potential
Location of
crown
(contains all the
buds for future
leaves and
roots)

Seeding depth

25
Deep seeding challenges ability of coleoptile to protect first leaf in cereals.

26
Coleoptile measurements in wheat: UM, unpublished

27
Coleoptile measurements in wheat: UM, unpublished

Coleoptile Length (cm)

12

10
Coleoptile Length (cm)

28
Barley Seeded Depth Effect on Final Yield

29
Photo: Scott Beaton, Rosser, Manitoba
• Crop cultivar selection
• Seed testing
• Seeding rates
• Seeding depth
• Seed size
• Intercrop options
• Forages and cover crops

31
 12.4 g/1000 seeds
16.9

Wheat sieved using

industry sieve sizes
20.5
“x”/64 x ¾ inch

30.0 37.7 43.0

32
Wheat Seed Size Effect on Final Yield

Approx. 23% yield increase

Approx. 26% dockage decrease

33
1” Seeding Depth 1” Seeding Depth 1” Seeding Depth
Small Size Medium Size Large Size

June 16 2016 34
2.5” Seeding Depth 2.5” Seeding Depth 2.5” Seeding Depth
Small Size Medium Size Large Size

June 16 2016 35
 2.5” Seeding Depth 1” Seeding Depth
Small Size Large Size

Gold star goes to the

combination of
shallow seeding
and large seed

Beneficial to
sunlight capture and
weed competition

36
Oat Seed Size Effect on Final Yield

37
How best to get the extra seed mass
• Increased seeding rate?
• Increased seed mass/size?
• Combination?

38
Seeding systems for forage and
cover crop establishment
 Clover which was relay-seeded into fall rye
Forages and cover crops