Manitoba is no longer free of clubroot.
Manitoba Agriculture announced late yesterday that canola plants in two separate fields showed “symptoms of clubroot galls on their roots.”
Subsequent laboratory testing demonstrated that the galls contained clubroot DNA.
As a result, Manitoba Agriculture plant pathologists have concluded that clubroot is now in Manitoba. The province, however, isn’t releasing the locations of canola fields that have the disease.
The discovery of clubroot-infected plants isn’t a surprise.
In early March the province announced that clubroot DNA was detected in soil samples collected from Manitoba fields in 2012.
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“Further tests done under ideal greenhouse conditions indicate that two of the six soil samples produced weak clubroot gall symptoms on highly susceptible plants,” Manitoba Agriculture stated at the time. “These test results are considered positive cases of clubroot.”
Now that clubroot has officially been detected in a canola field within Manitoba, the disease is now established in all three Prairie provinces.
Clubroot is a soil borne disease that causes swellings, or galls, to form on the roots of cruciferous crops like canola. The galls hamper the flow of nutrients and water from the soil to the plant, resulting in yield loss.
“The disease survives in soil as hardy, resting spores, with a half-life of four years, but it has the capacity to survive up to 20 years,” the province noted in its release.
Manitoba Agriculture will host workshops before the 2014 growing season to inform growers about best management practices to control clubroot spread.
