Check blackleg rating
Canola producers are advised to check the rating for the crop disease blackleg on all canola varieties before ordering seed for 1996.
Of 58 varieties available in Manitoba in 1995, 18 were moderately resistant to blackleg. However, in 1996 the number of canola varieties resistant to the disease will increase.
In 1995, only 21 percent of insured canola acres in Manitoba were sown with varieties of canola moderately resistant to blackleg. The other canola varieties, covering 79 percent of insured acreage, were susceptible or moderately susceptible to the disease.
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Manitoba Agriculture oilseed specialist Ron Kehler said with the wide range of canola available to producers there are few reasons to grow a variety that isn’t at least moderately resistant to blackleg.
“Having so many canola varieties to choose from creates competition in the marketplace,” he said. “Competition motivates the industry to continue to produce varieties that are higher yielding and disease resistant.”
A 1995 Manitoba Agriculture disease survey reveals that approximately 60 percent of canola fields in Manitoba this year were infected by blackleg.
Kehler said the severity of blackleg infection last year was higher than normal, particularly in the southwest region.
“Yield losses attributable to blackleg in 1995 are estimated to be up to seven percent in some fields,” says Kehler. ” Minimizing the impact that blackleg can have on canola yields is good insurance, and costs little.”
Selecting the variety of canola to grow is based on many agronomic considerations including blackleg. Most canola varieties that are moderately resistant or resistant to blackleg are new and have other good agronomic characteristics.
– Manitoba Agriculture
Canaryseed: not just for birds
Hairless canaryseed has been developed and is expected to be ready for commercial production in 1997.
That’s the first of five steps in a project conducted by Pierre Hucl and his research colleagues at the Crop Development Centre in Saskatoon.
“The current market for canaryseed, which is used as feed for small song birds, is finite and, on a global scale, pretty stable,” says Hucl. “The use of canaryseed for human consumption and industrial purposes, however, would greatly expand this market. And the potential for these uses definitely exists.”
Hucl’s work with canaryseed began in 1990, and has resulted in the development of a strain without the microscopic hairs that are a potential health risk and cause itching during harvest. This strain was yield-tested this past summer, but the data have not yet been finalized.
With this first step near completion, the project has moved into its second stage, a closer examination of canaryseed’s chemical composition.
“It had already been determined that canaryseed has a substantially higher grain protein than Sask-atchewan-grown hard red spring wheat, one of the highest protein wheats in the world. Our tests found this to be true. We also discovered that the canaryseed grain has a high oil content: nine percent, which is higher than corn or rice, cereals from which vegetable oil is produced. Canaryseed oil is 84 percent unsaturated, another plus.”
Canaryseed’s high starch content and other unique properties make it suited for cosmetics and as a fat substitute. Hucl says the third step in the canaryseed project is the investigation of its use as a sesame seed mimic.
As well, development of a disease-resistant strain of canaryseed is making progress as three strains that appear resistant to leaf mottle have been found.
– Saskatchewan Agriculture
Trace minerals for calves
Copper and zinc are important for certain enzymes in the immune system. Stress and infection generally result in lower feed intake and increased mineral excretion, thus depleting mineral reserves that are essential to a calf’s immune system. Some research has suggested elevating dietary levels of zinc and copper may increase performance and reduce death rate. Kansas State University ran two trials to look at the effect of supplemental copper and zinc on calf performance.
In the first trial, 670 pound calves were trucked for 18 hours and then fed rations for 30 days with either National Research Council recommended levels of copper and zinc or with four times the recommended levels. No differences in calf performance, serum mineral levels or IBR antibodies were noted between the two groups.
In another trial, 300 lb. bull calves were shipped from Georgia and were allotted randomly to receive 40 millilitres of either a water or a copper-zinc drench treatment. The copper-zinc treatment contained 250 milligrams of copper from copper sulfate, 650 mg zinc from zinc oxide and 400 IU of Vitamin E. No differences in gain, death rate or the number of antibiotic treatments required per animal occurred in the 56 day feeding trial.
The researchers concluded that either the level of stress imposed in the two trials was not great enough to cause acute trace mineral deficiencies, or that recommended levels are adequate for stressed, as well as nonstressed animals.
– Animal Nutrition Update
