The most common species of the pathogen is fusarium graminearum, commonly known as fusarium head blight (FHB) or fusarium scab. It’s a cereal crop pathogen that has become the most aggressive and prevalent species in both wheat and barley.

Fusarium not only destroys the yield in cereal crops and corn, it produces a toxin (i.e. mycotoxin) that is harmful to both humans and animals if excess mycotoxin in food or feed is ingested. Fernando says this poses a serious health problem, particularly in developing countries where corn is a staple of the daily diet and food scarcity means people may not throw away infected cobs, opting to simply cut out the damaged areas they can see. Unfortunately this isn’t always effective, since any undetected mycotoxin still clinging to the cereal has the capacity to contribute to illness.

Fernando and his colleagues have taken on the challenge of developing wheat varieties that have genetic resistance to the pathogen. A fusarium-resistant wheat variety will slow the spread of the pathogen, which can linger on stubble debris in the soil for several years. It will also reduce the need for repeated fungicide applications while improving crop quality.

Fernando, professor of plant pathology at U of M, says the genetic work being done there is essential in the race to control the spread of fusarium in Canada and to maintain Canada’s status as an exporter of wheat and barley globally.

“I think it is extremely urgent, mainly because the pathogen is a little bit ahead of us all the time,” Fernando says. “It keeps changing. The type of toxin it produces is changing. So, now the ones we’re experiencing are a little bit more potent, more aggressive, and at times causing more disease.

“It seems like they know what we are doing and they are just one step ahead of us,” Fernando adds. “We always see something new happening.”

That means the pressure is on in the small lab where Fernando and the graduate and undergraduate students under his supervision study the DNA of wheat and fusarium strains in their quest to gain a better understanding of the interaction between the host plants and the pathogen.

The lab itself is different from most Canadian research labs because of the number of people working there. “Normally it’s one PhD student and one master’s student,” Fernando says. But there are 15 people working in the University of Manitoba lab —three master’s students, five PhD students, four post-doctoral scientists and a technician. And, during the summer months, three undergraduate students are also hired.

One of their current tasks is to identify a marker in a specific gene which, when transferred to an existing wheat variety, will create a plant with fusarium resistance without diminishing yield or other beneficial characteristics previously developed in Prairie wheat and barley over time.

The challenge of finding a naturally occurring resistance to fusarium is multi-faceted.

It’s not a straightforward one-gene problem, Fernando says. Transferring one gene may seem like a quick fix but along with fusarium resistance there’s a chance that less desirable traits like dwarfism (smaller plants) or lodging (weak stems) will show up as well. “In addition,” he adds, “single gene resistance to fusarium is not easy to find.”

A good way to understand the challenge is to look at television cable bundling. When you purchase a cable package you get the channels you want, but you also get some you don’t want your kids watching, so you have to do some extra work to keep those channels turned off.

According to Fernando, who has degrees in both genetics and microbiology with a special interest in genetic resistance, the best method for identifying a gene with fusarium resistance, while blocking the transfer of undesirable traits, is marker-assisted selection. This is a long process that can take many years. It requires meticulous attention to detail in the field, the greenhouse and the lab in order to produce viable results.

Fernando says researchers have a variety of sophisticated genetic protocols at their disposal to help them in their quest for a genetic solution to reducing fusarium. But, he adds, that’s another science story.

Today researchers are working at finding a minor gene with fusarium resistance. It’s an important aspect of genetic resistance research because minor genes pose the biggest challenge to the pathogen. They confuse it and slow its rate of adaptation providing a longer-lasting result.

Although it takes longer to develop a plant with a high level of fusarium resistance using marker-assisted selection and crossbreeding, once it’s there, it’s established and will provide long-term protection.

In comparison, using a single-gene approach to develop fusarium resistance in plants is a much simpler process. In this process, the whole gene is transferred without isolating the traits within it through DNA analysis. Fernando called it a “quick fix” because the desired results can be obtained relatively quickly. But the results can be overturned just as quickly if the pathogen adapts to a new host, so it may not be long before the farmer is forced to increase the number of fungicide applications in order to maintain crop quality and yield.

Reducing the incidence of fusarium through transgenic plant breeding provides environmental benefits as well as ensuring good-quality crops.

“(We’re) trying to stay away from fungicides by putting good genetics into the crop, finding solutions in a very meaningful way. Not particularly saying that we’re not applying anything, but our whole goal is to remove the fungicides from the equation with good genetics if possible… Even if you apply fungicides you still need good genetics,” Fernando says.

According to Fernando, putting fungicides on a crop that is highly susceptible to a disease is a waste of money. Good genetics with an effective fungicide is the best solution because both the frequency and cost of spraying are reduced, he said.

Not all the research occurs in the lab. PhD student Chami Amarasinghe is also working in the greenhouse identifying which fusarium graminearum strains cause the most damage to different wheat varieties. She infects different varieties of wheat with different strains of F. graminearum to try and identify the various types of mycotoxins they can produce. Her goal is to sort out which genes produce the most virulent strains of the pathogen.

Amarasinghe is also working towards identifying what other fusarium strains not yet seen in Canada might also be able to infect out wheat.

That portion of Armarasinghe’s research helps protect Canadian wheat from fusarium epidemics caused by spores hitchhiking to Canada on imports. She has received F. graminearum strains from 12 other countries including Germany, China, U.K., Switzerland, France, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, and Poland, and she is studying their effect on Canadian wheat varieties.

Armarasinghe has been working on the FHB pathogen and its toxin biosyntheses pathways since she came to Winnipeg from Sri Lanka in 2009.

The post University sets its sights on fusarium appeared first on Country Guide.

Clubroot is particularly tenacious. According to Holly Derksen, plant pathologist with Manitoba Agriculture Food and Rural Development (MAFRD), clubroot spores can survive as long as 20 years in the soil, although the half-life of a clubroot spore is considered to be just four years.

What’s more, she adds, these long-lived spores have the ability to swim in the soil and seek out plant roots. If they find young, weak plants or older, vulnerable plants, it can essentially be game over.

Sometimes it’s a matter of numbers. The more pathogens present in the soil, the more likely it is a crop will succumb to them, leaving farmers with a large bill for seed, planting, spraying and harvesting — but little to show for it.

Derksen explains how the clubroot pathogen multiplies. When the clubs that form on the roots of the canola plants mature, they’ll send more spores back into the soil. Those spores will wait patiently for the next canola crop to be planted before they attack again. The pathogen also mutates and adapts to new varieties of plants and fungicides used by the farmer. So, by the time a biennial crop rotation has hit its sixth year, or third rotation, seed varieties that were once resistant to a clubroot pathotype are no longer as effective. The next crop may not be a complete failure but the yield will drop.

Derksen cautions farmers against relying solely on a switch of seed varieties to keep clubroot under control, as even intensive research undertaken by universities, plant breeders and large companies can’t solve all the problems. She says when everyone concentrates on finding a gene that provides resistance to a new race or pathotype of a plant disease, it’s quite likely they’ve all found the same source. This means that even though a grower is planting a different seed variety with each rotation, there’s no guarantee disease resistance will remain high, because all the varieties have the same resistance gene and they’ll all succumb, to some degree, to a new pathotype.

Dr. Dilantha Fernando, professor of plant pathology at the University of Manitoba, emphasizes it’s important to maintain research efforts for resistance in the fight against clubroot and other soil pathogens. He says that, although Manitoba doesn’t have a lot of clubroot now, the disease can continue to spread because the spores don’t travel on their own but they can be carried from field to field on wind-borne soil particles or on equipment. Fernando notes that good biosecurity for farm equipment may not be enough to halt the spread of these microscopic terrors. But, he adds, “It’s especially important if you don’t have clubroot yet, and this is the situation in most of Manitoba.”

Fernando sees the longevity of clubroot spores as an ongoing challenge for farmers. He says, “A rotation itself in the normal way that we talk about crop rotation, a two- to three-year rotation, will not particularly take care of it… That’s why resistance is still the major and best method of success in controlling these pathogens.”

Fernando says he thinks Canadian researchers have done an excellent job finding resistance to new races fairly quickly. But, he adds, “Sometimes the pathogen is smart and one step ahead of us.”

And sometimes researchers have to look to the past for results.

Fernando explains it this way. The resistant gene may already exist in the germ plasm in older varieties. Researchers can screen the varieties they’ve developed to see if a gene is already available. Then they can move very quickly to produce a new variety. But, if they have to find a new gene that has a natural resistance to a new pathotype that is attacking all existing varieties, it will take much longer, especially if it’s lodged in varieties bred in another country. That gene will have to be accessed and then crossbred into existing varieties and elite germ plasm.

Although conventional breeding takes much longer than identifying a resistance within known Canadian varieties, researchers do have the tools to combat new clubroot and blackleg pathotypes. Armed with new molecular techniques, worldwide collaboration between private companies and universities, financing from the agriculture industry, private enterprise and governments, a little luck and a lot of hard work they’re able produce positive results in the race to produce disease-resistant crops.

Fernando says the next clubroot challenge is a pathotype identified in Alberta and labelled 5x.

Blackleg has also been undergoing some changes too, Fermando says. “Blackleg has been controlled by good genetics for a long time, but that’s changing, due to new races of the pathogen.”

In the meantime, Fernando says, rotation and seed inoculants are the best line of defense against blackleg. He predicts that in the future seed suppliers will have to be able to advise farmers about which seed variety is resistant to the race of blackleg or clubroot pathogens in their fields.

Fernando says good farming practices are important in the fight against soil and stubble-borne pathogens. Strict biosecurity on and between farms will slow the spread of crop disease. High-quality seed will produce strong plants that are less likely to succumb to disease. Good rotation practices and attention to soil health will also help.

”Farmers play a major role in their own fields,” Fernando says.

The post The threat for canola appeared first on Country Guide.

“First and foremost is variety selection,” Lange says. “If you plant a short-growing-season variety in a short-season zone, you can maximize the yield potential of that variety,” he explains. “If you plant a long-season variety in a short-season zone, then that variety doesn’t have the opportunity to reach its potential yield and full maturity… Know your zone.”

Kristen Podolsky, production specialist at Manitoba Pulse Growers, looks at days-to-maturity as the single most important factor when choosing a seed variety. The short-season zone in Manitoba is in the southwest and northwest, both areas where acreage for soybeans is expanding. The long-season zone is generally in southeast Manitoba, south of Highway 23. In between those zones is classified as mid-season.

With soybeans, these zones are rated on heat days rather than sunlight hours, rainfall or soil type. It means that if you choose a variety simply for its yield potential without paying attention to the number of days to maturity, you’ll put your crop at risk of fall frost damage.

But if you’re running out of time to get those acres in, it is possible to plant the long-season varieties on the first seeded acres and a mid- or short-season variety on the last acres, says Lange. Optimum planting times in Manitoba are between May 10 and May 30 with the soil at 10 C. At this temperature the seeds will take two or three weeks to germinate. If the temperature rises to 13 C or 15 C, seeds will germinate in as few as seven days. But if the temperature is below 10 C, the seed will sit in the ground and when it finally emerges, the plants won’t be as vigorous as those planted at the warmer temperature.

The length of time between planting and maturity (i.e. when 95 per cent of the pods are brown), varies between 113 days in short-season varieties up to 121 days in mid- to long-season lines. Lange says once the plants have reached maturity, frost isn’t a major issue but a heavy frost before then can damage the yield.

Lange says that’s why it’s important for growers to know their region, their capabilities and the weather outlook. Flexibility is key. When the weather and calendar are working against you, he suggests planting the long-season varieties on the first fields and then using the mid- and short-season varieties on subsequent fields.

Flexibility extends to equipment as well. Lange says it’s a matter of choice but a first-time soybean grower can use the same planting equipment they have for cereal crops, whether it’s a planter or air seeder. He says there’s no reason to go out and buy additional equipment when you already have reliable planting equipment on the farm. Lange notes growers all have their own preferences on what’s important on their field and most are great at modifying the equipment they have to meet their needs. “Once you figure out what place soybeans have in your crop rotation, it always comes down to the nut behind the wheel. By that I mean the person driving the equipment,” Lange says.

Lange says row spacing is also a matter of individual preference. Wider rows require less seed than narrow rows. In a 15-inch or eight-inch row, the target is to get 200,000 to 210,000 seeds in the ground to ensure 170,000 plants develop. With 22- to 30-inch rows, it’s possible to seed 180,000 plants and still have as many as 160,000 reach maturity because the germination rate is usually higher in these rows. There’s really not a significant yield difference between row choices but weed control is more difficult and takes more attention in the wider rows while quicker row closure in the narrow rows can reduce weed control work, he says.

“Ideally, if you have between 140,000 to 165,000 plants established… you’ve got the ultimate range to maximize your yield,” Lange says. Even if early damage on seeds reduces the final plant count to 80,000 plants, it’s not a crop failure, just more weed control work. The important thing at this stage is to have a good hard look at what caused the low germination rate and learn from it.

Podolsky says seeding rates for soybeans should be calculated by determining the risks for failure to emerge including germination rates, presence of soil pathogens, possible insect damage, and damage to seed that may have occurred due to handling and seeding equipment. She says to achieve a target plant stand of 150,000 plants per acre, for example, the seeding rate should reflect the expected survival rate of the seed once all the risk factors have been calculated.

Manitoba Pulse is conducting on-farm studies to create a data base that will provide growers with more precise information on these risk factors, Podolsky adds. “In the past three years, over 60 on-farm research trials have been conducted and some of these trials have looked at seed survival rates in air seeders and planters.”

Plus, adds Podolsky, “There’s a 65 to 75 per cent seed survival rate with an air seeder… not as high as we’d like to see. That’s just what the reality is.”

Lange notes the reduced germination rates when seeds are planted with an air seeder is likely due to damage on seeds that are already dry.

However, Podolsky says, there’s a higher survival rate with planters — 72 to 82 per cent. Another benefit to using a planter is improved seed placement and depth control. The target plant stand of 140,000 to 160,000 or more plants is the same across row spacings.

But soybeans are adaptable so using an air seeder and adjusting the seeding rate from that of other crops is feasible. “Many studies show the yields on narrow rows planted with a drill or seeder are the same or higher as those done with a planter,” Podolsky says.

Proper inoculation to induce nitrogen development in the soil is another factor vital to the health of the soybean crop, Lange adds. Over time he’s noticed some growers lay a granular inoculant down through a separate tube, placing it a bit over from the seed to provide a little extra yield insurance. The granular inoculant becomes available later in the growing season when the pod is filling and can make up for deficiencies earlier on.

Both Lange and Podolsky note the number of acres given to soybeans in Manitoba has been expanding in recent years. Podolsky says the Red River Valley has been growing soybeans for a little more than a decade, but the acreage has doubled in the past four years with most of the expansion coming from the mid- and short-season zones.

The post The right time for soybeans appeared first on Country Guide.

But farmers aren’t just looking at the colour of the paint when they shop for tractors and implements these days. According to Henry Holtmann, vice-chair of Dairy Farmers of Manitoba, rising input costs mean farmers are trying to be more efficient. “When a bag of corn seed costs $200 and it only seeds around two acres, you want to be as precise as possible,” Holtmann says.

So farmers like Holtmann are turning to precision agriculture, an interactive computer-generated data collection and management system that allows them to analyze and adjust to almost every aspect of their operation.

Holtmann uses precision agriculture in his dairy and for his field crops. There are 1,000 cows, heifers and calves on Holtmann’s 2,700-acre family dairy farm, Rosser Holsteins, where they grow corn, alfalfa, barley, and oats for feed. They grow cash crops including soybeans and canola, on the land not used for feed production.

Holtmann says he’s been using precision agriculture in the dairy barn for years, measuring feed and tracking production levels and quality of milk. He uses it to monitor the activity of each animal and what and how much feed it’s receiving. Accuracy is the keyword. With “real time feeding and measuring of the feeds” Holtmann is able to adjust rations from a remote computer using WiFi to ensure the cows are getting what they need. He can even check if the milking activities are following protocol and problem solve using this “bird’s-eye view.”

A recent event at the dairy has Holtmann considering a new purchase. An early season snowfall caused a drop in milk production just days later. Holtmann says a hand-held infrared sensor would have saved almost $1,200 in production loss because the feed weights were skewed by the moisture content from the snow, which meant the cows weren’t getting enough feed.

If he’d had the technology, he could have adjusted the rations immediately without losing production, and the cows would have been a lot happier too.

Holtmann also invested in precision agriculture systems to grow his crops. He says a farmer has to choose a system carefully. The wrong choice can be costly.

Choosing the right data collection system for a farm operation is as critical to the success of the farm as buying the right tractor and implements, he says.

Systems range from just under $1,000 for a basic GPS designed to guide a tractor along the field rows to eliminate overlapping distribution of seed or fertilizer right on up to $20,000 or more, according to Tammy Epple, sales marketing manager for Outback Guidance. She says the more expensive the system the more information it will provide.

Epple says precision agriculture has quickly evolved from a basic GPS satellite guidance system in a tractor that was initially designed to prevent overlapping. Now the systems have sophisticated software that tracks yields and provides detailed application maps for every field on the farm, even telling the sprayer when to spray and how much to spray on a particular part of a field.

“It’s all about return on investment for the farmer,” Epple says. She says her company focuses on being able to provide software that’s compatible with all equipment, no matter what colour it is.

Holtmann agrees that it’s a far cry from straight GPS. Farmers want an information system that will “talk” or interface with equipment from a variety of manufacturers rather than a system that will only talk to one line of equipment. He says the first purchase is critical. Once a farmer purchases a system they’re tied to it unless they’re willing to take a loss and purchase a new one later. Accessing more advanced systems in the future can be costly.

According to Holtmann, there are several things a farmer needs to consider when buying a precision agriculture knowledge system. First is compatibility. He says if the system is ISO compatible, then a farmer is more interested in it and willing to pay more because it has the ability to talk to different manufacturers’ implements and adapt to new software. In addition, the system must allow the farmer to change instructions on the go in the field and then record that data.

Holtmann adds that although GPS-based systems can ensure there’s no row overlap for either seeding, fertilizing or spraying, any new system should also ensure every seed is placed correctly for maximum development and yield. The system should also allow the farmer to adjust seed placement right from the cab, whether it’s seed or row spacing, it’s important to be able to control it.

“If you start measuring the number of seeds per acre and the amount of yield you get back, then you can start doing the analysis for precision agriculture… then you can make some decisions,” Holtmann says.

Holtmann is using precision agriculture software with corn now but, in his estimation, the technology isn’t ready for soybeans. When his comparisons indicate there’s a benefit to investing in the equipment and the software for that crop, he says he’ll  buy it.

“Over the next 10 years our priority is changing [our] equipment and information technology to better use the resources we have,” Holtmann says. It’s not about trading in a 30-foot seeder for a 60-foot seeder, he says. It’s about getting more precise in that 30 feet.

The main consideration for new investments for precision agriculture at Rosser Holsteins is the ability of the equipment to adapt to changing needs. Holtmann says they’ll consider how the equipment talks to the information system they’ve tied themselves to and they’ll be looking for guidance on the actual information technologies or variable rate technologies as they become available.

“That’s where we’re going,” Holtmann says. “Those are the things that interest us and that’s how we’ll make those decisions.” They’re willing to spend the money to invest in an information system that will provide additional information as time goes on, he adds.

But equipment and software designed for precision agriculture is expensive, and Holtmann says that when he does buy more advanced systems, he’ll do it gradually, replacing his fleet of tractors, equipment and software on a schedule.

The reason for investing in precision agriculture is simple, says Holtmann: If you can’t measure it, you can’t make a decision.

“We’re not looking at getting bigger,” Holtmann says. “We’re looking at getting better.”

It isn’t about bigger or smaller equipment, says farmer Henry Holtmann. It’s all about how efficiently you farm.

Self-steering systems might have seemed a self-indulgence only a few years ago. Today, they’re the foundation of an ultra-efficient approach to low-cost, high-yield crop production.

The post Data collection, integrated systems are the changing face of farm equipment appeared first on Country Guide.