FP 2270, a new flax cultivar developed by Scott Duguid, a flax breeder with Agriculture and Agri- Food Canada based in Morden, has been recommended for registration.
It yields much the same as CDC Bethune across the West, but does slightly better in Manitoba, where CDC Bethune yields on average 34 bushels an acre, Duguid told the Manitoba Flax Growers Association’s annual meeting here March 3.
“This variety is very well adapted to the black soil zone,” Duguid said.
“I think this variety is a very good fit for the type of growing season we get in the Manitoba area and eastern Saskatchewan where we have black soils.”
Read Also
Flea beetle control goes outside the box at Ag in Motion
The stops at the 2025 Ag in Motion farm show feature an entomologist experimenting with trap crops and marigolds as concepts to control flea beetles.
FP 2270’s maturity and lodging resistance is also similar to CDC Bethune, but its seeds are bigger at 6.8 grams per 1,000 seeds.
“This is a very large seed,” Duguid said of FP 2270.
CDC Bethune measures 5.8 grams per 1,000 seeds, while Flanders, which has the smallest seed among registered cultivars, weighs 5.2.
FP 2270, like all registered flax varieties in Western Canada, is resistant to rust. It’s also rated moderately resistant to powdery mildew – the same as CDC Bethune.
CDC Bethune was Manitoba’s most popular flax cultivar with 62,990 acres in 2010 accounting for 40 per cent of the 156,853 acres of flax insured through the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation.
