Insects are important components of ecosystems and affect ecosystem health and agricultural productivity. Insects can be both positive, such as pollinators and natural enemies, or negative in the form of pests. Historically, pests have been managed responsively through the use of pesticides. However, there is an increasing desire for alternative methods with less environmental impact and that are safer for beneficial insects. This desire can be seen, for instance, in the WGRF Field Heroes program. Further, as the crops grown in western Canada diversify, it becomes necessary to evaluate potential pests and to determine the risk and threats from different insect species.
Read MoreShort crop rotations provide an environment conducive for an increase in plant disease, weed pressure from herbicide resistance, and insect damage (these productivity decreasing factors will be referred to as “pests” in this document). While some short rotations are currently profitable, the lack of diversification in a cropping system can be detrimental to maintaining crop yield and profitability. Factors that contribute to the profitability of cropping systems will identify why the seeded area of some crops is declining while increasing for others.
Read MoreWe aim to address the wireworm problem in wheat by developing RNAi as a tool for wireworm suppression. RNAi has the potential to be powerful, targeted, and environmentally friendly and has been shown to have efficacy against over 20 insect crop pests. We will approach our RNAi goal for wireworm control from two angles. First is to develop a seed treatment where double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) will be used to target specific wireworm genes for down-regulation and then create Canola plants expressing RNAi targeted to specific wireworm genes and to use these plants as a "clean up" rotation crop.
Read MoreWireworm is a serious pest for many growers, and on the Prairies is a unique mix of 3-4 dominant species. The damaging larvae live for several years in the soil, feed on multiple crops, and have patchy distributions. For these reasons wireworm is difficult to monitor, and no economic thresholds are currently available. As new (possible more effective) chemical seed treatments enter the marketplace, a glaring need exists for a decision-making framework for wireworm management. We will investigate to give producers information before using pesticides.
Read MoreEcological principles can be applied to agricultural practices to replace agrochemicals and increase productivity by implementing either species diversity e.g. mixed cropping or genetic diversity within species e.g. varietal mixture (VM). VM of several cultivars which belongs to the same market class and exhibit a similar quality profile but variable levels of pest resistance, drought tolerance and yield potential can be successfully implemented in large scale mechanized farming systems.
Read MoreFungal pathogens, such as Fusarium and rust fungi (stripe, leaf, and stem), are major threats to wheat production, grain safety, and food security in Canada and worldwide. The disease monitoring programs at the Canadian Grain Commission and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada monitor for Fusarium and rust fungi on wheat, which provides important information to improve disease management practices. Current methods for biotyping microbes in wheat are time consuming, laborious, and expensive.
Read MoreIn this project, we are proposing to develop state-of-the-art genomic prediction models for selecting winter hardiness and FHB resistance in winter durum. Over the past five years, Lethbridge Research and Development Centre (LRDC) has acquired diverse sources of germplasm and started a germplasm enhancement program with the goal of releasing winter durum cultivars to farmers in Alberta and Western Canada. Similarly, FHB resistance is a priority trait of all Canadian wheat breeding programs. This project aims to genotype the germplasm for genome-wide markers and phenotype the same lines at multi-locations.
Read MoreFungal pathogens, such as Fusarium and rust fungi (stripe, leaf, and stem), are major threats to wheat production, grain safety, and food security in Canada and worldwide. The disease monitoring programs at the Canadian Grain Commission and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada monitor for Fusarium and rust fungi on wheat, which provides important information to improve disease management practices. Current methods for biotyping microbes in wheat are time consuming, laborious, and expensive. In this project, the team will validate a mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF) which can discriminate Fusarium and rust species, fungicide resistance and virulence patterns within the species, which will provide a powerful tool for both Fusarium and rust monitoring in wheat.
Read MoreThis project aims to deliver best management practices for an ultra-early seeded durum wheat so that the ultra-early seeding system strategy allows to expand the seeding window for all crops for producers. This 4-year project will attempt to design a seeding system tailored to CWAD by analysing the germplasm within CWAD that would display variation around adaptation to the cold soils and abiotic stresses that occur when planting at or near 0ºC.
Read MoreKochia is one of the biggest agricultural weed problems in the southern Canadian prairies due to increased abundance of herbicide-resistant (HR) biotypes. The overall goals of this research project are to improve the understanding of synthetic auxin resistance in kochia; to determine how quickly this type of resistance will spread; to develop effective tools for management of these biotypes and, to stay ahead of potential new types of herbicide resistance through intensive population screening efforts.
Read MoreThis project will evaluate the efficacy of promising RNA-based fungicides for Fusarium head blight (FHB). This project will generate data to determine the efficacy of controlling FHB incidence using spray induced gene silencing and optimize its application in the field. This technology provides a non-transgenic resistance strategy with minimal environmental impacts for fusarium control by inhibiting the growth of pathogen.
Read MoreCommon bunt is a grading factor in CWRS wheat and listed as a priority 1 disease in the registration system. Down grading of infested grain results in a loss in revenue to farmers. Thus, this project focuses on efforts to boost bunt resistance by gene stacking in CWRS wheat, an approach used by plant breeders to assemble target genes of interest from different sources into breeding lines. This project will generate bunt resistant lines that can be used as donor parents for future breeding to develop resistant varieties.
Read MoreIn this project, a genome wide association study (GWAS) will be used to identify virulence and resistance associated markers from the Canadian stripe rust fungus and wheat genomes, respectively. The project is expected to generate useful tool to track rust changes in Canada and identify resistance in already genotyped elite lines.
Read MoreThe goals of this project are: 1) to optimize and scale up of test kits for Ochratoxin A that has been developed in the previous study; 2) to develop a simple, inexpensive, strip-based test for other mycotoxins like Fumonisin B1, Aflatoxin B1, and Deoxynivalenol (DON) alone and in combination and 3) to undertake a preliminary validation for their use outside the lab. This research will attempt to test these strips outside of the lab environment (farm, grain elevator) in a larger trial.
Read MoreThis project will deliver information on improving the fungicide timing and possibly widen the window of application for wheat growers and to make important decision on fungicide application in an integrated FHB management strategy. This study builds on the recently completed project on fungicide timing in durum wheat, funded by Sask Wheat.
Read MoreThis project will target stripe rust, tan spot, and net blotch in wheat and barley for characterization of the pathogen populations as well as identification of novel sources of resistance. The ultimate goal of the project is to generate information for wheat geneticists and breeders in western Canada, which will help them breed for resistance.
Read MoreThe objective of this project is to lay the foundation for developing an economic threshold for cereal damage for wireworm in Alberta. The outcomes will contribute toward giving producers the information they need to make informed decisions about investing in chemical control. Since wireworm is the primary reason that cereal seeds are treated with insecticides on the Prairies, this information has the potential to reduce unnecessary pesticide use.
Read MoreVery little is known about the performance of wheat varietal mixtures (VMs) in response to various pests in large scale mechanized farming systems in Western Canada. This project will study the management of pests and diseases to increase the reliability of wheat VMs. The aim of the project is to evaluate the performance of CPSR and CWRS wheat VMs for disease reduction in marginally and conventionally managed lands. The results are expected to help producers decide which wheat VMs to use based on characteristics and benefits.
Read MoreDeveloping durum wheat varieties that are less susceptible to ergot has become a rising priority. With the goal of enhancing the level of understanding of genetic resistance for ergot in the breeding germplasm, this study will include extensive multi-year phenotyping and next generation genotyping of genetic populations, strategic parental selection and crossing, gene stacking and molecular phenotyping using the Canadian Light Source platform.
Read MoreFusarium head blight (FHB) and stripe rust are two of the five priority diseases of wheat in Canada. This project focuses on genetic mapping of novel major-effect resistance genes to FHB and stripe rust. This research builds on Dr. Brar’s previous work on screening and identifying the resistant lines from 321 Watkins landraces for FHB and stripe rust resistance. In this study 2 resistant lines will be used to genetically map the genes conferring resistance to the two diseases.
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