Cruiser Winter Hardiness

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Project Abstract

Cruiser seed treatment was developed by Syngenta as an environmentally safe, early season, broad-spectrum pest control. The treatment enables early season vigor, and therefore maximizes the growth potential of the crop.

With the pest protection provided by the seed treatment the plants can focus their energy on growth instead of recovery from damage. With these features, these seed treatments can potentially be beneficial for the production of winter crops.

The study determined the effectiveness of seed treatments in improving the winter hardiness of winter pulse and cereal crops and one variety of spring wheat.

Project Details
Timeline	2009-2011
Principal Investigator:	Ken Coles Farming Smarter
Project Contact:	Ken Coles
Funded By:	Syngenta

Project Objectives

Determine if Cruiser seed treatments can enhance the winter hardiness and survivability of fall seeded crops including winter pulse and cereal crops

Methods

Locations

Medicine Hat, AB

Lethbridge, AB

Seeding & cultivar information for all locations on table below

Table 1: Information on seeding and plot dimensions.

Table 2: Cereal cultivar and classifications for 2009 and 2010

Treatments

Four replicate trial in a randomized complete block

Compare Cruiser treatment and untreated seed

Seeded with John Deere 5325 tractor and custom air plot seeder

Measurements

Plant density	Flowering date
Winter survival	Yield
Grain quality (moisture, TKW, etc)

Results

In 2009, the fall and spring plant counts, flowering date, TKW, % moisture, test weight and yield were found to be statistically different between varieties (P<0.01). On average, the cruiser treated plots had numerically higher yield than the untreated plots, the differences were not significantly different (LB, p = 0.09; MH p = 0.10).

The cruiser treated plots were not statistically different from the untreated plots for any other parameters including plant counts in spring, flowering date, thousand kernel weight. The statistical data analysis for the year 2009 is summarized in Table 3.

Table 3: Statistical data analysis for 2009

In 2010, spring plant counts and yield were significantly different between varieties in Lethbridge, and spring plant counts, yield and TKW were significantly different between varieties in Medicine Hat (Table 4). Fall plant counts were not significantly different between varieties (LB P=0.5674, MH P=0.1119). In Lethbridge, Superb was the only variety that had plant survivability less than 100% (76% for cruiser treated, 73% for untreated). In Medicine Hat, both MacGregor (11% for cruiser treated, 14% for untreated) and Superb (3% for cruiser treated, 3% for untreated) had low survivability. The statistical analysis for different parameters in 2010 is summarized in Table 4.

Overall, although there was a numerical trend of increase in plant density with cruiser treated plots, the differences from control were not statistically significant (Figure 1). Similarly, the cruiser treatment led to higher yield at the Lethbridge location. However, no difference in yield was observed at the Medicine Hat location (Figure 2). The suitability of the regions to winter cropping may be affecting the performance of these treatments, in addition to other differences in soils and climate.

Table 4: Statistical significance of treatment effects for 2010-2011

Figure 1: Plant density for seeds treated with Cruiser compared to untreated control for different varieties in 2010 at a) Lethbridge and b) Medicine Hat

Figure 2: Crop yields for seeds treated with Cruiser compared to untreated control for different varieties in 2010 at a) Lethbridge and b) Medicine Hat