Variety Registration
For seed to be legally sold in Canada, varieties of Brassica napus (canola and/or oilseed rape) must be registered with the Variety Registration Office (VRO) under the authority of the Seeds Act. Candidate varieties are tested for certain merit criteria according to guidelines set by the various Canadian canola recommending committees. The Ontario Canola Recommending Committee (OCRC) is responsible for Brassica napus recommendations for registration in Ontario. More information about the committee can be found at www.GoCrops.ca.
The merit of a candidate variety is tested according to the recommending committee’s guidelines. Field trials must be conducted under specific criteria and inspected by the committee. Field trials are conducted to collect yield data as a part of the merit criteria, and to collect grain to test its quality. There are additional factors to consider, but in general a variety that meets the recommending committees yield and quality standards can be recommended for registration. Following these approvals, seed companies then seek registration with the Variety Registration Office.
When a variety is recommended for registration by the OCRC, the VRO consults the Western Canada Canola/Rapeseed Recommending Committee (WCCRCC) to determine if they approve of the variety being registered in Western Canada. The WCCRCC are unlikely to approve registration of varieties that have not undergone testing in Western Canada and are unlikely to approve winter canola varieties for National Registration. For this reason, winter canola varieties recommended for registration by the OCRC are typically approved by the VRO for Regional Registration (Ontario only).
Variety Selection
Seed dealers provide information on yield and traits of varieties available to Ontario winter canola producers. Performance trials are not conducted in Ontario.
The Ontario winter canola market is small and has not yet attracted the interest of many seed companies that develop winter canola genetics, so there is a very limited selection of varieties available in Ontario. In addition, there may be a limited amount of seed available for registered varieties.
Producers can legally import seed for their own use with the appropriate permits but should be extremely cautious when making this decision and when selecting varieties. The variety must be declared when grain is delivered, and elevators or end users may reject loads of unregistered varieties or varieties with transgenic (GMO) traits. There is a specific quality standard for Canadian canola, and oilseed rape varieties developed for overseas markets may not meet this quality standard; they may have higher levels of erucic acid and glucosinolates. Grain that does not meet Canadian canola quality standards can significantly harm the Canadian canola industry locally and in export markets.q
Variety Traits
With the limited availability of winter canola varieties in Ontario and limitations on end user acceptance of GMO varieties, there are very few traits available. Winter canola varieties may carry tolerance to blackleg disease.
Varieties that are spring-winter crosses may offer early maturity, but research has shown that these may not be a good fit for Ontario conditions.
Many herbicide resistance traits are transgenic events and the varieties are therefore GMO, with limited end user acceptance. Additionally, volunteer canola with herbicide resistance may be difficult to control in the years after a canola crop is produced. Varieties tolerant to imidazolinone herbicides (Clearfield – IMI tolerant), the active ingredient in Pursuit, were developed through natural selection of mutations from conventional varieties and are non-transgenic. If IMI tolerant varieties were brought to the Ontario market it would open new opportunities for winter canola in crop rotations that include imidazolinone herbicides which have long (e.g., 2 years) restrictions to non-IMI tolerant canola.