Roots function as an early warning system for Brassica crops, detecting and responding to environmental stresses. Understanding root biology will help scientists and farmers create sturdier, stress-resistant crops. But root systems are complex, and difficult to study in a non-destructive manner. Bao-Luo Ma’s team investigated the feasibility of measuring electrical properties of roots to investigate...

Cultivar resistance is the key to managing clubroot, which continues to spread on the Canadian prairies. Recently in Alberta, 17 “new” pathogen pathotypes were identified and all appeared virulent to previous resistant cultivars in the marketplace. This erosion of single-gene resistance is also being reported across western Canada, including a new variant of pathotype 3A...