Science Edition 2017—Key Result: Improved equipment sanitation is a rapid and cost-effective strategy to manage the spread of clubroot in canola. Agricultural, oil and gas, and construction industries can apply these techniques. Project title, Principal investigators: “Evaluating physical and chemical methods for cleaning and disinfecting tools, machinery, equipment and other hard surfaces contaminated with clubroot,” Ron Howard,...

Science Edition 2017—Key Result: Canola benefits from having abundant pollinators. Ongoing research is determining in what contexts yield and seed quality benefit the most from pollinator activity. Project title, Principal investigators: “Reliable and effective use of managed bees for canola pollination,” Shelley Hoover, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry Funding: Alberta Canola, SaskCanola, Manitoba Canola Growers Several surveys and...

Science Edition 2017—Key Result: Through this study, a second, previously unknown Contarinia midge species was discovered in Western Canada. Further work is underway on this new species, but overall, midge damage at the four Saskatchewan study sites was extremely low over the three-year project. Project title, Principal investigators: “Monitoring of swede midge populations in Saskatchewan and determining...

Science Edition 2017—Key result: While this three-year study was designed to compare three straight-cut headers and a swathed check, results found that using a shatter-tolerant variety was much more important than header type for lowering the risk from straight-combining canola. Project title, Principal investigator: “Canola direct-cut harvest system development,” Nathan Gregg, PAMI Funding: SaskCanola, WGRF, ADF The...

Science Edition 2017—Key Result: If one goal at harvest is to reduce the weed seed bank, producers should focus their efforts on harvesting canola as soon as the crop is mature with the aid of chaff collectors or pulverization techniques. For the majority of producers not using these types of equipment, an alternative strategy might be to...