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Alberta still diligent in fusarium war

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Published: October 24, 2002

INNISFAIL, Alta. – Alberta livestock producers are taking no chances

with fusarium.

Producers in one central Alberta county returned feed and straw from

Manitoba that tested positive for the fungus.

Red Deer County agriculture fieldman Art Preachuk said education and

diligence among producers are the best ways to keep out fusarium, which

has devastated cereal crops in Manitoba and parts of eastern

Saskatchewan.

“Buy the best you can and test anything that comes from out of province

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because there’s a chance it might have something in it,” he said.

Alberta municipalities have authority to test feed under the provincial

agricultural pest act.

More grain, hay and straw than normal are entering the province because

a three-year drought has created a feed shortage.

The government backed off from its original zero-tolerance policy to

ensure livestock producers have enough feed. Instead, all seed must be

certified disease free and feed users must follow prescribed management

practices outlined by the provincial fusarium committee.

“The plan is a balance between the management of a pest and maintaining

the viability of the cattle industry,” said Shaffeek Ali, head of

Alberta Agriculture’s pest management unit.

Alberta has been testing field samples since the disease appeared in

eastern Saskatchewan in 1997. Wider tests on seed and feed started this

year.

In 2001, out of 483 field samples, 14 tested positive for

fusarium-diseased kernels. Four samples were imported from out of

province.

In 2002, 1,900 samples were collected with17 positives. These were

primarily seed samples.

Minute traces of the disease appeared in the Westlock, Barrhead and

Morinville areas. About 30 samples were checked from southern Alberta

fields, but no disease was found.

Further examination showed most of the samples were not fusarium

graminearum but other forms of fungus.

Another arm of research is a fusarium risk model based on climatic

conditions conducive to disease reproduction.

The Australians are looking at a system known as Climex, developed to

detect a variety of pests. The program has already been used to predict

and track the incidence of cabbage seed pod weevil in western Canadian

canola.

Computer models can provide risk assessments to measure the fungus’s

potential to spread based on weather conditions.

Many argue Alberta is too dry, but weather chart comparisons of

relative humidity, precipitation and temperature indicate similar

conditions exist across the Prairies where the fungus has taken hold.

Central Alberta is particularly vulnerable because climatic conditions

are similar to the Red River Valley, where the disease was first

discovered in Canada.

Researchers are investigating other leads.

“There is some thought that direct seeding has led to an increase,”

said Kelly Turkington, an Agriculture Canada plant pathologist at the

Lacombe Research Centre.

This is under surveillance in Saskatchewan, but no connection has been

made. Researchers have noted that minimum tillage may act as a catalyst

when crop residue is left behind.

Cattle may be fed some fusarium-infected grain but silaging, blending

or further processing is recommended. Grain heated to 80 C for several

days appears to destroy the fungus. Rolling or steaming grain may also

be effective.

About the author

Barbara Duckworth

Barbara Duckworth

Barbara Duckworth has covered many livestock shows and conferences across the continent since 1988. Duckworth had graduated from Lethbridge College’s journalism program in 1974, later earning a degree in communications from the University of Calgary. Duckworth won many awards from the Canadian Farm Writers Association, American Agricultural Editors Association, the North American Agricultural Journalists and the International Agriculture Journalists Association.

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