Diversity Within The Variety
In 2003 and 2004 Sharon Rempel sent diverse samples of Red Fife and other heritage varieties to the Canadian Grain Commission for protein banding. This technique indicates how a variety is changing genetically each time it grows in a field. Of the three samples of Red Fife in the Canadian Gene Bank, only one sample was identical to the undated lab sample at the Grain Commission, and these accessions had no background data.
Each seed showed a distinct protein banding pattern. This preliminary research work shows that the 'terroir' of genetics and the environment immediately affect how the quality of the seed changes. The wheat looked the same in each field but the genetics were already changing. Does this mean Red Fife is a landrace? It is a heritage variety and a folk seed. Little published research work has been done in this area. Farmers have been doing this type of work for centuries.
Called "folk seeds" or farmers' varieties, land races have been feeding people since plant domestication started about 10,000 years ago. Land races provide excellent insurance for subsistence farming populations; there is always something in the field at the end of the season.
Landraces offer built in horizontal resistance within the plant group.
On the west coast of Canada Red Fife wheat may actually be more white in colour because of the genetic interaction with the mild environmental conditions. Red Fife grows as a spring wheat on the Prairies and can be grown both as a spring wheat and a winter wheat on the temperate west or east coasts and in Ontario.
Red Fife seems to develop a more robust red characteristic and is a 'hard' wheat when grown where it can be stressed by temperature during the growing season and has a more white delicate flavour and is more of a 'soft' wheat when grown in more temperate conditions. (this information comes from personal field growing experiences of Sharon Rempel, organic plant breeder, ECO PB)
Read more about this topic: Red Fife Wheat
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