Biochemical Profiling of Selected Lines/Varieties of Northern Adapted Flax and Full Utilization of Alberta’s Flax Fiber

The demand for early maturing flax has attracted the attention of multinational companies like CPS (formerly Viterra) to Alberta for the development of flax breeding programs aiming to capture the opportunity in this prime flax growing region. [...] The collaboration between NADC and InnoTech Alberta takes advantage of InnoTech Alberta’s research and connection with the Chinese linen fabric industry to add value to Alberta’s flax fiber and to address the concerns of flax growers with respect to straw management. [...] Overall Objectives: The objectives of this project were to document the biochemical profile of selected lines and varieties of northern adapted flax and lay foundation for full utilization (grain and straw) of northern Alberta flax. [...] The following parameters were evaluated: 1. Seedling vigor – the vigor of the stand was assessed, where 1 is less vigorous than the check, 2 is same as the check and 3 is more vigorous than the check. [...] The flax samples had been grown and harvested in smaller replicated plots with significantly shorter rows, so we selected three rows of one fiber variety and three rows of one oil variety and collected the retted material, the soil under the retted material, and the standing material that showed no sign of retting for each of the three rows.