Manitoba’s PSI Lab to ID more diseases, specific races

Manitoba’s Pest Surveillance Initiative (PSI) Lab, a grower-led laboratory established to help growers better manage pest threats as they emerge, continues to grow its ability to move lab research off the bench and into growers’ hands. The focus remains on ‘what is in the environment’ – helping Manitoba growers identify and track the pests in their region to more effectively manage risks to crop production on each farm.

While PSI was established with the support of the Manitoba Canola Growers in response to the growing threat of clubroot coming to Manitoba, 2017 saw significant expansion of its surveillance capacity through additional support from Growing Forward 2. PSI established both lab and field capacity to grow, identify and quantify a range of crop pathogens down to the race level. This can ensure that growers’ pest management measures are effective for the type of pest in their field, and the specific race of that pest, which is important for managing pest resistance. Using blackleg of canola (Leptosphaeria maculans) as the model, PSI is developing procedures to rapidly identify the race of field-crop diseases found in the Manitoba environment.

Other crop diseases being evaluated include clubroot (Plamodiophora brassicae), fusarium head blight (Fusarium spp), cereal rusts (leaf, stem) and sclerotinia (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum).

PSI continues to share information with growers, extension personnel and industry at mbpestlab.ca.