Canada is a key exporter of Lentils with the majority of production focused on Saskatchewan.
Last week, Sask Pulse wrapped up their Premiere Pulse Webinar Series with a presentation on Lentils.
Laurie Friesen, the Seed Program Manager with Sask Pulse talked about Lentil Varieties.
She says when it comes to green lentil varieties CDC Greenland and CDC Greenstar continue to gather the majority of the large green acres in the province.
"CDC Greenstar is showing to the one of the highest yielding However, there's a new variety that is expected to make an impact and that is CDC Lima is just starting to capture acres there hasn't been much seed out yet, but based on crop insurance on farm data, it was the highest yielding. Now however, we need to note that this was only based on 4400 acres. So you know, we need a couple more years to see if this continues, but it looks promising."
Last year the majority of lentil acres in Saskatchewan or about 70% was seeded to red lentils.
Friesen says for Red Lentils CDC Maxim continues to dominate with about 45 per cent of the acres, while Clearfield varieties CDC Proclaim and CDC Impulse have about 20 per cent of the acres.
"Interest in CDC Redmoon is also increasing as more growers are willing to forego herbicide tolerance in favor of yield potential. Typically, the non-Clearfield varieties tend to yield a little higher than the Clearfield type."
Other key lentil varieties of interest include CDC Sublime a large red lentil that was released in 2020, it's unique as it has a red cotyledon and a green seedcoat, and yields about 116% of CDC Maxim in the South.
CDC Jimini is a Clearfield variety and in two years of regional trials has been shown to have better yield than the top yielding non Clearfield variety CDC Kermit.
Friesen says the two years of regional head-to-head testing shows CDC Jimini yielded 113% in the brown and dark brown soil zones, and 89% in the black and dark grey soil zones as compared to the check CDC Maxim.
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