Science Edition 2022—Although impact varied among species, predatory nematodes belonging to the Steinernema genus provided significant mortality of diamondback moth, lygus bug, cabbage root maggots and black cutworms. “Biocontrol potential of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) against selected key insect pests of canola in Alberta” Shabeg Briar and Paul Tiege, Olds College Alberta Canola Crop losses and the economic...

Science Edition 2022—The Prairie Pest Monitoring Network (PPMN) provides forecasts, risk maps and monitoring protocols for crop pest insects across Western Canada. It also provides a free weekly update during the growing season. Anyone can subscribe at prairiepest.ca. “Coordinated monitoring of field crop insect pests in the Prairie Ecosystem” Meghan Vankosky, AAFC Saskatoon SaskCanola, Manitoba Canola Growers,...

Science Edition 2022—The range in on-target spray deposition volume across the width of sprayers was unexpectedly large for this study. With each sprayer pass, some targets only received one third of the intended dose while others received triple the intended dose. “Characterizing turbulent spray deposition from self-propelled sprayers” Tom Wolf, Agrimetrix SaskCanola, Alberta Canola To find the...

Science Edition 2021—Key result: This study validates a new threshold for lygus in canola. The general pattern is that abundances below two lygus per sweep do not reduce yield. Thus, the threshold of two to three lygus per sweep (20-30 per 10 sweeps) is recommended. Because current canola cultivars appear to tolerate lygus damage better than older...

Science Edition 2021—Key result: Non-crop areas within or near to fields can serve as a source and a destination for beneficial insects at different times of the season. A correlational study of 60 million seeded acres of yield data obtained from Agricultural Financial Services Corporation (AFSC) showed that counties in Alberta where fields tend to contain more...