This research will assess if there may be an opportunity to extend the crop harvest beyond the grain to include some portion of the crop residues, without appreciably impairing soil health. Most field studies to investigate the effects of crop residue exports on agroecosystem performance and soil status run for fewer than 10, and often for only 3 yrs. Such short time spans often are too small to appreciably alter C or nitrogen (N) cycling. This project will take advantage of a simple residue manipulation experiment that has been maintained for 20 years at AAFC Lethbridge.
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 MoreWe aim to integrate long-term data on management, soils, crops, and weather to provide a holistic view of how changes in management impact soils over time, and how these changes in "soil health" could buffer the cropping system and alleviate the impact of future perturbations. Our research questions include: (1) Do farming practices deemed to "invest in soil health" pay off over short- and long-term timescales in the semi-arid Canadian prairies? (2) If so, how can farmers invest in soil health while maintaining profitability and stability under a changing climate?
Read MoreThe proposed research into wheat and triticale that can fix atmospheric N2 for their own needs would increase cereal crop productivity in nitrogen-deficient soils and enhance sustainability of system management practices in agriculture by reducing the amount of N fertilizer application, thus saving both money and the environment. The proposed project aims at generation of triticale and wheat varieties with stable trait of Biological Nitrogen Fixation, by genetic engineering of crop plant mitochondrial genomes with the nitrogen fixation genes originating from BNF bacteria.
Read MoreCarbon foot printing is a now an important component of provincial, national, and international sustainability initiatives. Currently, there is no direct annual data on net carbon footprints for Saskatchewan cropping systems. The focus of this project is to provide spatially and temporally integrated data on greenhouse gas emissions at the field scale level obtained using micrometeorological techniques that will be used to determine net ecosystem exchange and the net carbon footprint of the cropping system.
Read MoreThis project builds of the recently completed Saskatchewan Soil Health Assessment Protocol (SSHAP) Phase 1 studies funded by Sask Wheat along with other industry funders. It is necessary to build off this research to expand the soil dataset with the goal of adjusting the SSHAP, so that the output will be soil zone-specific scores. This project will also incorporate novel biological indicators of soil health.
Read MoreCurrently the commercial soil testing is reliant on methods that are not compatible with modern emphasis on large datasets and rapid sensing. Spectral-based NIR sensing systems have the potential to reduce per-sample analysis costs by more than 90%, while producing near-instantaneous results in the field. The main goal of this project is to develop methodology to link field NIR data and laboratory analyses by combining the large datasets and advanced data processing techniques with a novel FT-NIR field probe.
Read MoreThis project will examine how the wild oat seed germination responds to the stimulants in isolation and within soil by stimulating the post-harvest environment under controlled conditions (indoor studies). The objective of this one-year study is to characterize the dose response, interaction, and optimal mix of potassium nitrate and pyroligneous acid (liquid smoke) to determine the suitability of either pre-seeding or post-harvest germination stimulation of wild oat, volunteer barley, oats, and wheat.
Read MoreThis project will generate information on how P fertilizer source (form) and its interaction with placement and rate influences yield, fertilizer P recovery and use efficiency in a cereal-pulse-oilseed rotation. This study will also analyze the potential loss of soluble reactive phosphate off-site in spring snowmelt runoff in contrasting soils, and its relationship to the forms of P that accumulate in the soil and water. There is limited information on how different P fertilizer forms may behave as available P sources for crops when added to prairie soils, and no information on how they relate to P export off-site in comparison to conventional mono-ammonium phosphate.
Read MoreThe Department of Soil Science, University of Saskatchewan, is proposing the construction of a new 10,000 sq ft Soil Science Field Facility (SSFF), which is essential for maintaining field research programs. These programs address agricultural issues related to soil health and sustainability, soil fertility and plant production, indigenous agriculture and environmental issues such as adaptation to and mitigation of climate change and its impacts on agriculture. Soils are a fundamental resource, and the ability to conduct field research programs will allow the department to continue its long history of working with farmers.
Read MoreThe benefits of the Department of Soil Science’s research to Saskatchewan grain producers depends on the Department’s ability to maintain rigorous field programs. Their field facilities are essential for staging and executing this work, and without these facilities, their capacity to mount field research programs will be severely compromised. Soils are a fundamental resource, and the ability to conduct field research programs will allow the department to continue its long history of working with farmers, producer groups and government agencies to improve crop production and maintain or even enhance the sustainability of the province’s land base for the people of Saskatchewan and Western Canada.
Read MoreThus, the focus of this project is to provide spatially and temporally integrated data on greenhouse gas (GHG; N2O and CO2) emissions at the field scale level obtained using micrometeorological techniques that will be used to determine net ecosystem exchange and the net carbon footprint of the cropping system (canola cereal rotation). This research will support the policy development for local producers as they enter the carbon economy and to ensure the competitiveness of Saskatchewan agriculture.
Read MoreThis project builds of the recently completed Saskatchewan Soil Health Assessment Protocol (SSHAP) Phase1 studies funded by Sask Wheat along with other industry funders. Thus, the main goal of this Phase 2 study is to deliver a user-friendly online tool that shows growers the soil health curves and where their sample falls on the soil health scoring curve and to provide recommendations to improve the soil health status over time.
Read MoreThe main goal of this project is to develop methodology to link field NIR data and laboratory analyses by combining the large datasets and advanced data processing techniques with a novel FT-NIR field probe. Currently the commercial soil testing is reliant on methods that are not compatible with modern emphasis on large datasets and rapid sensing. Spectral-based NIR sensing systems have the potential to reduce per-sample analysis costs by more than 90%, while producing near-instantaneous results in the field.
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