ACHESON, Alta. – Farmers counting on high-priced canola to see them through tough times are taking the threat of clubroot seriously.
More than 100 farmers, fertilizer dealers and agronomy staff gathered in a rural hall near Acheson Nov. 13 to learn the latest about clubroot. The disease is often called the cancer of canola because of its devastating impact on the crop.
Cyril Maskowske of Leduc, Alta., said he hasn’t received confirmation of clubroot in his fields, but he’s looking for information to keep it that way.
Read Also
Agri-business and farms front and centre for Alberta’s Open Farm Days
Open Farm Days continues to enjoy success in its 14th year running, as Alberta farms and agri-businesses were showcased to increase awareness on how food gets to the dinner plate.
“If I don’t it’ll be a pretty sad situation.”
Norman Schneider of Leduc received a notice barring him from growing canola in one of his fields because clubroot has been confirmed in one quarter.
“It’s serious,” he said.
Clubroot has appeared in small patches in his field and Schneider wants to know if there are ways to manage the disease by dividing the quarter and stopping its spread. If the field can’t be divided, he’s not allowed to grow canola in the field until 2013.
“How do you manage it?” he said.
Agriculture officials are also wondering about the best method of control, said Stephen Strelkov with the University of Alberta.
The soil-borne pathogen seems to be spread mostly by machinery. Clumps of dirt or dust from infected fields are transferred on cultivators, seed drills and harvest equipment to other fields.
“Ninety percent of the time we would find the disease at the entrance to the field,” said Strelkov, who has conducted surveys the past three years to get a better understanding of the disease.
“It suggests machinery is the main mechanism of spread.”
Research this year has also found low amounts of the pathogen on barley and canola seed, he said, leading researchers to believe it may also be spread by dust on seed.
That news was discouraging for farmers listening to the more than 80 km-h wind carrying topsoil across several counties outside the meeting hall.
“It does sound a bit more pessimistic than I thought if it’s dust borne and not soil borne,” said Maxine Larsen, who received confirmation of clubroot in one of her 20 Leduc-area fields.
“I’m not in a panic, but I don’t want to be the cause of infection if we can avoid it.”
Eleven counties in the province have confirmed cases of clubroot. The disease mainly appears in soil with lower pH and high moisture levels.
University of Alberta researcher Habibur Rahman is trying to develop clubroot resistant lines of canola by crossing canola with winter canola, rutabagas and other members of the canola family. In the first year of research, of 7,000 plants grown, about 52 showed resistance.
Rahman said optimistically it would be about two years before clubroot resistant germplasm can be given to canola breeders to be included as just one more trait required in canola.
