Science Edition 2023—Frequent occurrence during the flowering period of a minimum of 0.0001 nanograms of S. sclerotiorum DNA per petal or per cubic metre per hour combined with relative humidity over 80 per cent and cooler temperatures are expected to result in a disease incidence greater than 10 to 15 per cent. In this situation, fungicide is...

Science Edition 2023—InnoTech researchers have patented an automatic field unit that can count Sclerotinia sclerotiorum spores over a set period of time. They deployed six units in 2022 and are troubleshooting mechanical issues, mostly to do with the system’s internal clock and power supply. “Development of a biosensor for sclerotinia stem rot disease forecasting in canola,” Xiujie...

Science Edition 2023—Fluopyram, Saltro and Bion seed treatments look promising against early blackleg infection, however none of these seed treatments has shown significant additional efficacy on any of the resistant canola cultivars tested under field conditions. “Exploring novel seed-treatment options to mitigate the impact of blackleg on canola,” Gary Peng, AAFC Saskatoon SaskCanola Peng G, Liu X,...

Science Edition 2023—The avirulence profile of L. maculans population on the Prairies remained relatively stable from 2017 to 2021; only AvrLep1 increased noticeably. Even so, the current pathogen population is still highly diverse. Researchers should continue monitoring the pathogen population for early detection of resistance erosion to specific R genes, especially when new R genes are being...