Generate knowledge and control strategies for the pollen beetle Brassicogethes viridescens (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae), a new invasive insect pest of canola
Pollen beetles were susceptible to three of four insecticides tested. Yield reductions was detected at 7-9 beetles per plant but not at four beetles per ten sweep. Pollen beetles were not detected in the Prairies provinces and no native parasitoids were found attacking pollen beetle larvae in Atlantic Canada.
Tracing C and N during crop residue decomposition to optimize C sequestration and predict N transfer credit
Crop residues supply critically needed carbon (C) and nutrients to the soil. These residue-derived resources support plant growth and the formation of soil organic matter, a cornerstone of soil health.
Understanding the molecular basis of NLR-mediated clubroot resistance in Brassica napus
The ability to integrate stable clubroot resistance into new germplasm is needed to protect the economy while ensuring sustainability and growth in canola growing regions.
Optimizing systems productivity, resilience and sustainability in the major Canadian ecozones
Prairie crop producers have been seeking effective approaches to increase crop yields, improve resource use efficiencies or minimize input costs, enhance agroecosystem resiliency and the whole-farm economics, and decrease the negative impact of farming on the environment while protecting the soil resource. To achieve those multiple goals simultaneously, a systems approach must be taken where Best Management Practices (BMPs) are integrated together for the entire farm.
Coordination of a crop disease monitoring network for Western Canada
Surveillance of crop health issues provides growers, extension staff, researchers, government agencies, and industry stakeholders with information that enables informed decision making with respect to integrated pest management, setting research/funding priorities, product placement, and pest distribution and severity.
Coordinated monitoring of field crop insect pests in the Prairie Ecosystem
The Prairie Pest Monitoring Network is a collaborative project. Monitoring data is released on a weekly basis when insect pests pose the greatest threat to crop yield.
Modification of surface waxes for improved water retention in canola
Crop residues supply critically needed carbon (C) and nutrients to the soil. These residue-derived resources support plant growth and the formation of soil organic matter, a cornerstone of soil health.
Climate-smart canola: quantifying soil- and fertilizer-derived nitrogen sources and greenhouse gas emissions
Ultimately, this research will contribute to the momentum of canola nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) research that is aimed to inform and incorporate NUE traits into commercial canola breeding programs.
Deploying calcium-dependent protein kinases to fight canola pathogens
This project aims to contribute to the development of elite canola varieties that are resistant to pathogen infection for the betterment of the canola industry.
Climate change resilience of Prairie oilseed crops and their below-ground microbiota under drought stress in controlled and field environments
This project will examine the soil, rhizosphere, and root microorganisms that are recruited by canola plants under stress conditions. It will also result in the isolation by culture of microbes (or groups of microbes) that could help plants adapt to the changing conditions currently being experienced on the Canadian Prairies.
Balancing economic, action, and seed production thresholds for glyphosate-resistant kochia in canola
This study will provide canola farmers with the information required to determine when a two-pass program is warranted and economically viable.
Generation of canola lines with increased heat and drought tolerance by regulating phospholipid: diacylglycerol acyltransferase activity
This project will help improve canola production efficiency and improve the national and global competitiveness of the Canadian canola industry (in the long term).
A meta-analysis of small-plot trial data to examine the relationship between crop development and environmental conditions in canola
The objective of this project was to utilize archived small-plot canola agronomic trial data and corresponding regional weather data to conduct a meta-analysis to examine the relationship between environmental conditions and canola emergence.
Updating the critical weed-free period in canola
This project will contribute to more efficient and sustainable weed management practices by optimizing canola genetics, plant stand densities and herbicide programs to achieve the above benefits.
Drought tolerance in Canola through modulating the Kanghan (KH) gene family
Improving crop tolerance to drought is essential for maintaining yield stability under the continued threat of climate change and a key factor for achieving sustainability in agriculture by saving water resource usage. Molecular breeding focusing on monogenic transgenic intervention has so far achieved limited success in the development of drought tolerance in crops. This project focuses on a gene family that is the basis of quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting drought tolerance in Brassicaceae.
Continue monitoring Leptosphaeria maculans populations following the introduction of new resistance genes Rlm2, Rlm4, and Rlm 7 for effective resistance deployment on the Canadian Prairies
This project aims to help guide the effective use of cultivar resistance, which, when used in combination with other management practices will help mitigate the impact of blackleg on the Prairies.
Introgression of clubroot resistance from B.rapa into B.napus canola and identification of molecular markers for resistance, and pyramiding of this resistance with other resistance gene
Several clubroot-resistant canola cultivars have been developed in Canada, however the newly evolved Plasmodiophora brassicae pathotypes have overcome some of the resistances. The long-term objective of this project is to diversify the clubroot resistant genes in Canadian canola for clubroot resistance and develop molecular markers for these resistances.
Identification and exploitation of genome structural variants for trait improvement in Prairie crops
This has the potential to open up plant breeding to a whole new way to identify germplasm variation in breeding programs.
Level of canola source fat in pregnant beef cow diets - effects on cow and calf performance
This research is not only focus on determining the optimum amount of fat from off-grade canola seed supplementation to gestating beef cows, but the economic price point (taking into account prices of traditional feed sources and canola inclusion costs) when canola supplementation is most profitable.
Digital In-Field Phenotyping Vehicle
This will accelerate the breeding of improved canola varieties as breeders from academia/government/industry use this service to phenotype larger breeding programs.