Winter Peas
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New Article: Two Peas in a PlotNew Profile: Flex Forage, Bio Cover Crop and Wildlife Pea
When we purchased the genetics program from Rogers Seed in 1995, what attracted us most was the potential in the winter pea breeding program. It has proven to be as exciting in potential as we thought, but also the most challenging of our dry pea programs. This arena has historically had the least effort in breeding and therefore the greatest room for improvement.
Winter Forage and Wildlife Program
This is an area where we feel there is great potential. We have focused on white flowered forage peas where the absence of anthacyanin produces white flowers rather than purple flowers. This improves the digestibility and palatability of the forage. Both of these items are of major benefit in a livestock forage program and the improved taste is a key to attracting wildlife.Nutrigreen Forage and Wildlife Pea (Profile) is a white flowered, long vined normal leaf pea with high tonnage and better palatability than Austrian Winter Pea. These improvements not only make it a good forage pea but also attract deer more readily than Austrian Winter Pea. Nutrigreen has quicker early seedling growth than Austrian Winter Pea and similar winter hardiness.
Flex Forage and Wildlife Pea is a new variety which has mild winter tolerance but establishes and grows faster than Nutrigreen or Austrian Winter Pea. Tonnage at flat pod stage has been 20% higher than either of the other two varieties. The caution is that this variety can handle modest winters but not harsh winters.
Whistler Wildlife Pea has proven to be an excellent pea to attract wildlife. Not only is it white flowered with better taste, its stand up plant type allows it to stand above the snow later in the winter.
Winter Dry Field Pea Program
Our focus here is in green and yellow edible peas. This has required considerable effort in moving spring pea qualities into the winter program while maintaining or re-establishing the winter hardiness needed for this market.Objectives:
- Winter Hardiness
- Increased Yields
- Root Rot Tolerance
- Improved Seed Quality
- Phoma Tolerance
- Upright Growth Habit
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