Breeding Station Emmeloord, not only potato and triticale!
Core business at the Breeding Station Emmeloord in the Netherlands are the two breeding programs of potato and triticale. Both programs are focused on the European market. Varieties like Fontane and Lombardo are well known and do have a positive contribution to the total royalty license income for Lantmännen.
But breeding potato and triticale is not all we do at the station. We are also an extension of the other breeding programs based in Sweden. Breeders in Sweden, who want their breeding lines tested under North-West European conditions have the possibility to execute trials at our breeding station. Our mild sea climate is comparable to Northern Germany, Western France, and the UK.
Next to that our moderate temperatures with high humidity are well suited for fungi like rust and mildew. This gives a good opportunity to plant disease observation plots on the station. And if the heavy clay soil at the station is unsuitable, we also have a good cooperation with a trial farm in the south (small town called Vredepeel) with sandy soils.
A couple of years ago we started doing trials of oats and spring wheat. In both these crops the focus is on potential yield and disease resistance.
Oat trial in Vredepeel.
Observation plots oats.
Mildew in oats.
Sowing yield plots.
For two years we have now also tested parental lines of perennial ryegrass. There is a large market for ryegrass in the Netherlands and Germany, so it would be interesting for the breeding program based in Svalöv to develop specific varieties for these markets. Breeding Station Emmeloord helps with the first selection phase, the one for parent selection.
Trial of perennial ryegrass.
Whole Emmeloord team helping with planting rye grass trial.
Nice disease score in perennial ryegrass.
The latest ‘Swedish’ crop added in Emmeloord is winter wheat. Although winter wheat has more restrictions for adaptation to different regions, the high disease pressure at our station may give good disease resistance data. Therefor we have established 1200 observation plots of winter wheat this autumn.
Sowing of observation plots of winter wheat.
We will have the first results for winter wheat hopefully next spring!