| Abstract | Wheat is one of the major staple crops of the world with production reaching close to 600 million tons in the crop year 1997-98. It is grown in most of the countries of the world and in several climatic and edaphic zones. Traditional plant breeding has resulted in the development of an estimated 25,000 different wheat cultivars with increased yield, enhanced grain quality, or improved resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses (Feldman et al., 1995). Wheat was introduced in to Canada at Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal), Nova Scotia, in about 1605 (Campbell and Shebeski, 1986). The subsequent spread of wheat cultivation to other parts of Canada coincided with the movement of settlers westward. The history of Canadian wheat production is closely tied to the development of Western Canada (DePauw et al., 1995). Extensive efforts by the plant breeders have lead to the development of numerous cultivars of wheat for Canadian producers. The first transgenic wheat in Canada was produced at the National Research Council of Canada's Plant Biotechnology Institute (Nehra et al., 1994). During the past fifty years, Canadian wheat production has accounted for almost five percent of the world wheat production and about twenty percent of world wheat trade. In the last three years (1995- 98), wheat has been grown on over 11.1 to 12.2 million hectares in Canada, producing about 25 to 30 million metric tons of grain. Eighty percent of the wheat grown in Western Canada belongs to the hard red spring class of wheat. The wheat industry has been a rnajor foreign exchange earner for Canada. Grain exports contributes about five billion dollars annually to the Canadian economy. |
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