The Canola AgriScience Cluster is a five-year research program funded through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) and the canola industry.
The Canola AgriScience Cluster is a five-year research program funded through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) and the canola industry.
To further support the Canadian canola industry, the Canola AgriScience Cluster was amended in 2019 to include activities focused on blackleg and verticillium stripe.
The Canola AgriScience Cluster is a five-year research program funded through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) and the canola industry.
The Canola AgriScience Cluster is a five-year research program funded through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) and the canola industry.
The Canola AgriScience Cluster is a five-year research program funded through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) and the canola industry.
The best approach to manage blackleg disease is the use of canola cultivars that are genetically resistant to the pathogen. However, cultivars that contain the resistant (R) gene(s) against the most prevalent pathogen race(s) are more likely to be effective in controlling blackleg disease. Among the various tools developed from this and other similar projects, markers for race determination of blackleg pathogen and markers that determine the type of R gene in canola cultivars have the most practical and immediate benefit for canola farmers by helping them to achieve both goals.
We applied target capture sequencing to canola root galls and soil samples from three fields in Alberta. Sequencing data showed that the clubroot pathogen pathotype 3H was present in two fields. A third field sample showed presence of new mutations in one of the target sequences indicating presence of clubroot pathotype 3H and potentially other pathotype that were not present in our clubroot sequence dataset. We also determined the genotype of blackleg races from three canola stems infected with blackleg and determined a mixture of blackleg species as well as other pathogenic fungi present in these samples.
This project focused on increasing our knowledge on plant host-clubroot pathogen interactions by determining if reducing the ability of the pathogen to use the plant hormone auxin (responsible for cell grow, division and expansion in the plant) would reduce clubroot disease progression, particularly at the gall forming stage.
There is a pressing need to improve productivity of crops, in order to maximize yield without further expanding arable land. The ability to make further crop improvements relies on the introduction of novel allelic variation, one such source being related species; however, interspecific barriers to recombination limit the transfer of new variation into crops.
The tools developed and verified through this project will enable efficient development of resilient varieties. The results support potential of canola digital phenotypes to field-scale agronomic applications. The expansive data sets and samples generated through this project are and will be used in various research projects, extending the utility of grower-invested research dollars.
This facility will increase the overall capacity for insect and pest related research and will therefore benefit numerous researchers and projects at the USask. Finally, this facility will result in important training opportunities.
