DeKalb’s DKTF 92 SC and DKTF 94 CR will not be available for 2020, Bayer said. Canola growers who have already booked those seeds for this spring are now asked to talk to their local sales reps or retailers about suitable replacements.

“Last season proved to be a challenging environment for Canadian growers across the board,” Bayer said in a release Wednesday. “Some expressed concerns about the performance of these two hybrids in particular, while others saw these hybrids perform as expected.

“Ultimately this inconsistent performance did not meet Bayer’s expectations.”

The company said it ran side-by-side trials with other DeKalb TruFlex canolas and confirmed “the inconsistent yield results were limited to these two hybrids,” while “all other TruFlex canola, straight cut and clubroot hybrids performed to expectation.”

Separately on Twitter, the company said it would recommend DKTF 96 or 75-65 RR to replace DKTF 92 SC, while a TruFlex canola clubroot hybrid is “an alternative” for DKTF 94 CR.

DKTF 92 SC was announced in 2018 for use in the 2019 growing season, and was billed as having “improved pod strength for straight cutting” plus “very good combining ease and multigenic, R-rated blackleg resistance.”

DKTF 94 CR was also first made available to growers for the 2019 season and was billed as having resistance to five clubroot pathotypes (3, 2, 5, 6 and 8) plus an R rating for blackleg.

DeKalb promoted both TruFlex varieties as offering growers “a wider (herbicide) application window, with up to as many as 14 more days, without sacrificing yield potential.”

The two varieties’ herbicide tolerance packages were also marketed as allowing growers to control 51 weed species, “24 more than the Genuity Roundup Ready canola system.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Manitoba’s agriculture department reported Friday that clubroot pathotype 3A — a strain that can “overcome some first-generation sources of genetic resistance” in commercial canola — has been positively identified in the south-central rural municipality of Pembina.

Canola varieties that have been traditionally rated as “R” or “resistant” won’t be effective in preventing clubroot infection against 3A, the department said.

Those canolas are tested against pathotypes 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8 but aren’t labelled as effective against 3A and 5X, both of which are “breaking-resistance” pathotypes.

Genetic resistance to pathotype 3A can be found in just a “small number “of commercially-available canolas, and those are specifically labelled for resistance to 3A, the department said.

“Outside of Alberta, very few fields have been found to contain novel pathotypes like this, and this is the first finding in Manitoba,” the Canola Council of Canada said in a separate release Tuesday.

“This is yet another cue for the industry to continue to take this disease seriously and implement clubroot management plans,” council agronomy specialist Dan Orchard said in Tuesday’s release.

“We still have an opportunity to get ahead of this disease and limit the impact it has on canola producers and the industry.”

Selection pressure

Caused by soil-borne Plasmodiophora brassicae, clubroot first became established in Canada mainly in vegetable-growing regions of Quebec, Ontario, Atlantic Canada and British Columbia.

Swollen galls appear on roots of a clubroot-infected canola plant, choking off its supply of water and nutrients and forcing it to prematurely ripen, either reducing its yield or killing it. Typical yield losses run around 50 per cent but can run up to nearly 100 per cent in fields under severe clubroot pressure.

The disease’s first appearance in Canadian canola was in Quebec in 1997, but it took until 2003 for clubroot to turn up on the Prairies, in spots near Edmonton.

Clubroot has since landed in thousands of Alberta fields, mainly in central regions but also in the province’s south and its northwestern Peace region, and in canola fields in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and North Dakota.

The first R-rated canola variety was released in 2009, but by 2013, significant clubroot infections began appearing in some Alberta fields seeded to R-rated canolas.

Pathotypes that are virulent against R-rated canolas were found to have been widespread in clubroot-infected areas of Alberta before R-rated varieties were introduced — but those pathotypes had usually been seen only at low levels in the galls on infected, non-resistant canola plants.

Experts say those findings confirm that the virulent strains of clubroot were able to thrive due to selection pressure from the use of R-rated canola.

Of the clubroot pathotypes affecting otherwise-R-rated canola, 5X was confirmed in central Alberta in 2014 — and 3A was found in a study last year to be the “predominant” virulent subtype in fields in that province.

Scouting time

A soil-borne disease, clubroot can be transferred from field to field on soil particles, travelling via footwear, vehicle tires, farm machinery and/or wind or water movement across a landscape.

The long-term sustainability of Prairie canola production will depend on suppression of clubroot infection through effective crop rotation — and rotation of sources of genetic resistance — together with good farm biosecurity, the Manitoba government said Friday.

Even when using resistant varieties, growers need to scout their crops to make sure the resistance they’re using is effective against the pathotypes in their fields and to see if new sources of resistance are needed.

Under high resting spore loads, symptoms can occur after using the same resistance source two or three times, or even sooner, the canola council said.

Producers are “strongly encouraged” to familiarize themselves with clubroot symptoms and start scouting this fall, the council said. Clubroot symptoms are most noticeable late in the season and can still be seen during and after harvest on canola roots.

“It is critically important to limit the pressure we put on resistance by using resistant varieties before spore concentrations are high, extending the break between canola crops and changing up resistance sources if necessary,” Orchard said Tuesday.

“The development of clubroot and discovery of a pathotype that is virulent to the original source of clubroot resistance is concerning to Manitoba canola farmers,” Ron Krahn, a director with the Manitoba Canola Growers Association, said Tuesday.

“We know how important canola is for a profitable crop rotation, which is why we feel the research dollars that MCGA spends every year on current production challenges is money well spent.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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SaskCanola on Monday reported the discovery of the disease in a field in crop district 9B, but didn’t give its specific location. District 9B is a group of 16 rural municipalities east of Lloydminster, west of Meadow Lake and north and west of North Battleford.

“We’ve been advised that one new field in the northwest region of the province is heavily infested with clubroot,” SaskCanola executive director Janice Tranberg said Monday in a release.

The report follows news last week that clubroot has made its way further northwest up into Alberta’s Peace region — findings which the Canola Council of Canada said Monday “should encourage all canola growers in Western Canada to scout fields for the disease.”

“In response to this finding, SaskCanola is working with the Canola Council of Canada and the Saskatchewan ministry of agriculture to reinforce producer awareness of the clubroot management fundamentals,” Tranberg said.

A soil-borne disease of cruciferous crops, clubroot is caused by a fungus-like organism, Plasmodiophora brassicae. There are no known economically feasible controls to get it out of an infested field.

In clubroot-infected canola, swellings or galls appear on roots, cutting off a plant’s water and nutrient supplies so it prematurely ripens and dies. Typical yield losses run around 50 per cent but can run up to nearly 100 per cent in fields under severe clubroot pressure.

Clubroot is established in Canada mainly in vegetable-growing regions of Quebec, Ontario, Atlantic Canada and British Columbia. Its first appearance in Canadian canola was in Quebec in 1997, but it took until 2003 to appear on the canola-rich Prairies, near Edmonton.

Cases have since been confirmed in thousands of canola fields elsewhere in Alberta, mainly in central regions and particularly around Edmonton, but also as far south as Medicine Hat, as well as in fields in Manitoba and Ontario.

In Saskatchewan, the clubroot pathogen was detected in a soil sample from a west-central field in 2008, though no symptoms appeared on plants from the field. Clubroot was deemed an official crop pest in the province in 2009.

The disease’s first appearance in Saskatchewan canola plants came in 2011 in two fields, both involved in research trials, in the north-central RMs of St. Louis and Aberdeen. Another clubroot-positive field was identified from a 2012 disease survey in the RM of Biggar. The disease otherwise wasn’t detected in soil surveys between 2009 and 2016.

Saskatchewan growers shouldn’t assume clubroot isn’t already in their community or even on their farm, SaskCanola said Monday. “When the pathogen arrives via soil movement into a field it is often unnoticed for the first couple of years, especially if producers are not looking for it.”

Once the clubroot pathogen gets into a field or community, growing susceptible crops can increase clubroot spores, “which can eventually lead to visual symptoms, yield loss, and reduction in the durability of clubroot resistance.”

To manage the risk of clubroot in canola, growers are urged to follow rotation with at least a three-year interval between canola crops, to grow clubroot-resistant varieties and to control volunteer canola in all crops.

In non-canola years, volunteer canola and other brassica weeds such as wild mustard and stinkweed should be controlled to limit plant populations that harbour the disease.

It’s also recommended that growers “minimize soil movement between fields” by ensuring equipment is clean when moved from field to field, and to limit tillage and other soil disturbance, as well as soil movement caused by wind and water.

Taking time to scrape and sweep dirt off machinery used in an infested field, asking custom applicators to clean equipment before taking it onto a field, reducing tillage post-harvest and working in least-infected fields first and most-infected fields last, where possible, “can make a big impact on the prevention of spore movement in your fields,” the Canola Council said.

Before or during swathing is the best time to scout for clubroot, the council said Monday, because diseased patches will be most obvious and clubroot galls, if present, will be at their largest.

“Dig up plants in all areas that show premature ripening and check a few random plants at each field entrance looking for galls on the roots,” Curtis Rempel, the council’s vice-president for crop production and innovation, said in Monday’s release.

Severely-infected roots will lead to stunted growth and premature yellowing on the plant above ground, but spore-producing galls “can be present even without obvious above-ground symptoms,” he said.

“That’s why digging up random plants, especially at field entrances, is an important step in early detection.”

More information on clubroot scouting and management is available on the Canola Council’s clubroot site. — AGCanada.com Network

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Alberta Canola on Wednesday announced the Peace region has reported a case of clubroot in canola, in Big Lakes County, which surrounds much of Lesser Slave Lake in the region’s southeast.

The disease has been well known in central Alberta since the early 2000s and had already been detected in canola fields in Big Lakes’ neighbouring counties to the south and east, including Lesser Slave River, Woodlands and Yellowhead.

Alberta Canola said Wednesday it’s working with the Canola Council of Canada and extension partners to “reinforce grower awareness of the clubroot management fundamentals” such as crop rotation and equipment sanitation.

A clubroot information session for local growers is also scheduled for 10 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 31 at Guy Community Hall. (Guy is about 50 km northwest of High Prairie, on Township Road 760 just east of Highway 49.)

A soil-borne disease of cruciferous crops, clubroot is caused by a fungus-like organism, Plasmodiophora brassicae. There are no known economically feasible controls to get it out of an infested field.

In clubroot-infected canola, swellings or galls appear on roots, cutting off a plant’s water and nutrient supplies so it prematurely ripens and dies. Typical yield losses run around 50 per cent but can run up to nearly 100 per cent in fields under severe clubroot pressure.

“If clubroot has not yet been found in your community, that does not mean it is not present,” Alberta Canola said on its website Wednesday.

“A buildup of clubroot spores eventually leads to visual symptoms, yield loss and reduces the durability of variety resistance.”

To help prevent clubroot spore buildup, canola producers are urged to use clubroot-resistant varieties, and if clubroot is already present in the area, those varieties should be used in a rotation interval of at least three years.

Clubroot-resistant varieties can help reduce disease loss to as low as zero, but the resistance isn’t considered durable when used in short rotations in heavily-infested areas. Fields known to be heavily infested shouldn’t be seeded to canola.

Growers should also scout for clubroot in canola fields — even in fields seeded to resistant varieties.

Growers will also want to follow a crop rotation with at least a three-year interval of canola crops, to reduce pressure from clubroot and other diseases and pests. Volunteer canola should also be controlled in all crops.

Growers are also urged to clean equipment between fields, in order to “minimize soil movement” from field to field, and to reduce tillage and other soil disturbance, so as to cut down soil movement via wind and water.

Clubroot is established in Canada mainly in vegetable-growing regions of Quebec, Ontario, Atlantic Canada and British Columbia. Its first appearance in Canadian canola was in Quebec in 1997, but it took until 2003 to appear on the canola-rich Prairies, near Edmonton.

Cases have since been confirmed in thousands of canola fields elsewhere in Alberta, mainly in central regions and particularly around Edmonton, but also as far south as Medicine Hat, as well as in canola fields in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario.

Areas with warm soils, high soil moisture and acid soil (pH under 6.5) are known to favour infection and show more severe disease development.

More information on clubroot is available on the Canola Council of Canada’s clubroot website. — AGCanada.com Network

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Syngenta, which entered the Prairie canola seed market in 2013 and by this spring had six hybrid varieties on offer, said in a statement it has “recently taken the decision to exit the canola seed business.”

The company, which is in the midst of finalizing its friendly takeover by Beijing-based chemical firm ChemChina, said it is “no longer selling or promoting our canola hybrids.”

The Canadian arm of the Swiss ag chem and seed company said it will “continue to support our existing canola seed portfolio through 2017 seeding and our programs and in-field product support, as per their terms and conditions.”

Asked via email why the company opted to leave canola seed behind, Syngenta said in its statement that it “regularly evaluate(s) all aspects of our business” and the decision was made “as part of these activities.”

Syngenta, whose canola portfolio before 2013 was strictly in crop protection products, this spring offered an early to mid-season clubroot-resistant variety, SY4105; two early mid-season hybrids, SY4114 and SY4135; a mid-season hybrid, SY4166; a mid- to long-season hybrid, SY4157; and a new clubroot-resistant hybrid, SY4187.

“This is an exceptional time to be in the canola seed market, given the extent of breeding and varietal development activities going on across the country,” crop consultant Dave Sippell, who at the time was Syngenta’s head of diverse field crops for North America, said in launching the canola line in 2012.

“Based on grower and market needs, Syngenta will continue to increase its number of canola seed offerings over the coming years,” the company said at the time.

For 2018, Syngenta’s seed catalog for Prairie growers includes six wheat varieties, a two-row malting barley variety and seven soybean varieties. Its seed offerings in Eastern Canada include nine conventional and 18 Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybean varieties, and 19 corn hybrids. — AGCanada.com Network

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During the 2016 growing season an agronomist in the Verner area of northern Ontario examined a canola field and found the distinctive clubbed roots, said Meghan Moran, canola and edible bean specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) at Stratford.

The agronomist sent a sample for testing and, after confirmation of the disease, contacted the ministry.

“Treat it with respect and really focus on reducing spread to other fields,” said Moran.

The disease can have a significant yield impact, although the first diagnosed field in Verner was harvested normally.

Clubroot has been found in Ontario in cole crops, such as cabbage, turnip or broccoli, but this is the first time it has been diagnosed in canola. The oilseed is grown in northern Ontario and in a fairly narrow strip of growing area in the northern part of southern Ontario, south and east of Georgian Bay across to the area around Ottawa. Vegetable crops are not grown on a large scale in the same area.

Clubroot has been found in canola in Western Canada, especially central Alberta, since the early 2000s. It has more recently been found in canola in Manitoba, but is not yet widespread. It has also been sporadically found since 2011 in surveys in Saskatchewan.

After the first case was confirmed, OMAFRA undertook a survey of soils in canola-growing areas. The survey looked at 95 samples, including 68 from northern Ontario (Verner and New Liskeard areas) and 27 from southern Ontario (Renfrew, Bruce, Grey, Dufferin and Wellington counties). It found eight positive fields in the northern group of samples and three in the southern group. All samples came from canola fields.

The next step, currently underway, is to determine pathotypes for all of the positive samples to identify the strains of clubroot in Ontario.

This is valuable information, as the pathotype will determine if the Ontario disease is the same as western Canadian strains; if clubroot-resistant varieties will have an effect in Ontario; and even if the same strains are present in different growing areas in Ontario.

Moran doesn’t believe much will be gained trying to figure out how the disease got to Ontario canola fields. It’s better to dedicate energy to preventing its spread to other fields and areas, she said.

There are several management practices associated with monitoring for clubroot and limited its spread. They include:

• Scout fields with the understanding that the disease is now confirmed in Ontario.
• Understand that the disease often shows up first at the entrance to fields where it has been deposited by contaminated equipment. Take soil samples first from that area of the field.
• Sanitize equipment, especially when it has been in contaminated fields, by cleaning off all soil and using bleach.
• Leave contaminated fields to harvest last.
• Longer crop rotation has a significant limiting effect on the disease, if the crops between canola years are not hosts for the spores.
• Above ground symptoms include yellowing, wilting and stunting. These symptoms mimic nutrient deficiencies and other diseases. Pull up plants to check the roots for clubbing or galling.
• Premature ripening is also a symptom.

“It is manageable, but only if you take it seriously,” Moran said.

For more information visit the Canola Council of Canada’s clubroot website.

— John Greig is a field editor for Glacier FarmMedia based at Ailsa Craig, Ont. Follow him at @jgreig on Twitter.

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Since the disease appeared in Manitoba in 2009, fewer than five per cent of the province’s farms have so far been tested for the spores that cause the yield-robbing disease in canola and related plants, Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development reported in a recent release.

The disease to date been confirmed in 48 Manitoba fields, the province said.

Given the low rate of testing so far, the province said, “it is recommended that all fields be tested to determine if clubroot spores are present, regardless of (a rural municipality’s) classification” for the disease.

The province’s clubroot map, shown here, lays out positive clubroot findings from 2009 to 2014 by rural municipality, found through lab tests on soil and/or plants showing confirmed clubroot symptoms.

In infected canola, swollen galls appear on roots, cutting off the supply of water and nutrients to a plant so it prematurely ripens and dies. Typical yield losses run around 50 per cent but can run up to nearly 100 per cent in fields under severe clubroot pressure.

A number of fields in an RM may have been tested and the colours of RMs highlighted on the map denote the highest concentration of clubroot spores found. It doesn’t mean all fields in a specific RM have the same concentration of spores, nor does it mean clubroot has even been detected in all fields.

Concentrations of the Plasmodiophora brassicae spores that cause clubroot can be “highly variable” even within a field, the province said. RM classifications should be used only to indicate clubroot has been found in an RM and to show the “maximum severity” of spore concentration.

RMs coloured red on the map have at least one field with concentrations of at least 80,000 spores per gram of soil — or at least one field where clubroot symptoms have turned up in plants. Fields in those cases should be managed to prevent continued spore buildup or spread.

Generally, MAFRD added, it’s reported that 100,000 spores per gram of soil are needed before clubroot symptoms can be seen under field conditions. That said, lower concentrations of spores could lead to clubroot-symptomatic plants “under favourable conditions.”

(In Alberta, where clubroot made its first appearance in Prairie canola in spots near Edmonton in 2003, clubroot concentrations are known to reach more than 10 million spores per gram of soil in some fields, MAFRD said. Alberta’s current clubroot map is shown below.)

RMs coloured orange on the Manitoba map have fields where 10,001 to 80,000 spores per gram soil have turned up in tests. “Without management, concentrations (in those fields) may increase to levels where symptoms are visible in the field within one crop cycle,” the province said.

In RMs coloured yellow, 1,001 to 10,000 spores per gram soil — levels considered “low to intermediate” — have been detected, but those concentrations can decline over time with proper management, the province said.

In the remaining green RMs, clubroot spores have not been detected or have only been detected at “very low” levels, but fields should still be monitored and retesting is recommended within the next five years to see if concentrations are increasing.

Clubroot is established in Canada mainly in vegetable-growing regions of Quebec, Ontario, Atlantic Canada and British Columbia. Its first appearance in Canadian canola was in Quebec in 1997, but it took until 2003 to reach the canola-rich Prairies.

Outside Alberta and Manitoba, isolated cases have been reported in Saskatchewan (in 2011) and in North Dakota. — AGCanada.com Network

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Crop Production Services on Monday announced its “next generation” of Argentine canola hybrids shows “high levels of resistance” against clubroot pathotype 5x — a type found in 2012 in some canola fields in the Edmonton area, after plants from other resistant canola varieties reacted to it.

The new canolas also show resistance to previously known clubroot pathotypes 2, 3, 5, 6 and 8, CPS said, citing “preliminary data” from its research and development (R+D) collaborations.

There hasn’t yet been a genetic offering that provides high levels of resistance to emerging new pathotypes, including 5x, CPS said, noting “intermediate” resistance is already on the market. Canterra Seeds earlier this year rolled out CS2000, a hybrid billed as having intermediate — that is, 30 to 69 per cent — reaction to 5x.

CPS’ announcement comes as canola experts in Alberta confirm a “breakdown” of clubroot resistance in that province, in varieties otherwise rated “R” (resistant) against the disease.

The Canola Council of Canada said pathotypes capable of causing high levels of disease in resistant canola cultivars were present in 16 of 27 fields investigated clear across the province.

A clubroot pathogen isolated from “many” of those fields was found to be virulent on all clubroot-resistant cultivars, the council said.

Experts suspect there may be “multiple” pathotypes causing such a loss of function of clubroot resistance, the council added.

The new canolas, CPS said, come from “multi-year” research in tandem with the University of Alberta and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, which turned up “multiple unique gene sources” of resistance against clubroot 5x.

Hybrids with the resulting gene stacks have been screened against spores of all known clubroot pathotypes, according to Bruce Harrison, CPS Canada’s director of R+D in Saskatoon.

“CPS has been a very good collaborator for us,” AAFC researcher Gary Peng said in the company’s release Monday. “They provided us with the source material from their germplasm collection. We’ve identified the gene and have developed the molecular marker to drive efficiency into breeding for this trait.”

Some of those hybrids will go into private data co-op testing this year, Harrison said, with the aim of picking up interim registration in February 2016.

“Less prone”

In the meantime, Prairie canola growers will want to continue to try to gauge what they have in their fields, he said, emphasizing there’s not going to be one silver bullet against clubroot.

Preventing the disease from spreading, he said, will involve a combination of resistant hybrids, sufficiently long crop rotations and field equipment management.

CPS expects the work on clubroot resistance to be a “lifelong journey” for canola breeders. The pathotype that’s been seen beating R-rated canolas, now categorized as 5x, may not turn out to be so simple to characterize, Harrison said.

“We kind of view clubroot like we do blackleg,” he said, in that the disease’s pathotypes will continue to change and “there’s not going to be a ‘eureka’ moment.”

That said, canola breeders are taking a similar multigenic approach to blackleg resistance. For example, Canterra on Tuesday rolled out CS2100, a new multigenic hybrid it expects will be “less prone to breakdown by new races” of blackleg.

Canterra said its new long-season Genuity Roundup Ready hybrid has shown “broad-spectrum resistance” to the blackleg pathotype groups 2,3,4 and T. CS2100 is expected to be available for the 2016 growing season. — AGCanada.com Network

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What’s more, the clubroot pathogen isolated from “many” of the infected fields in the study was virulent on all clubroot-resistant canola cultivars, the Canola Council of Canada said in a release Friday.

“It is suspected that there may be multiple pathotypes causing this loss of function of clubroot resistance.”

The findings came from field surveillance in 2014 by Alberta’s agriculture department, the University of Alberta and the Canola Council. University researcher Stephen Strelkov early last year confirmed the presence, in fields around Edmonton, of clubroot pathotype 5x, a type virulent on current forms of clubroot resistance.

Furthermore, “these new fields aren’t clustered around the original location of resistance breakdown,” said Dan Orchard, the council’s clubroot lead and agronomy specialist at Wetaskiwin, Alta.

The new fields, he said Friday, “are hundreds of kilometres apart and throughout the clubroot-infested areas of the province.”

Keeping such resistant spores from building up in fields is best done with longer rotations and the use of resistant varieties, Orchard said.

“If growers wait for clubroot to show up before choosing resistant varieties, the selection pressure for new virulent pathotypes is literally millions of times higher than if growers begin using these varieties before the disease shows up.”

Also, good sanitation is recommended for equipment in all field operations — spring seeding and spraying included, the council said.

“The level of sanitation should be based on the level of clubroot risk, but at least 90 per cent of clubroot spores that move from field to field can be stopped by just scraping off 90 per cent of the soil,” Orchard said.

The province and the university “continue to monitor the situation closely,” the council said. Their work includes surveillance for clubroot pathotypes able to beat resistance, and a research program to evaluate new clubroot pathotypes.

Growers and agronomists should also scout canola fields this summer with “extra effort” on clubroot identification, the council said.

The best time to scout for clubroot symptoms on roots is late in the growing season — about two weeks before swathing — when root galls should be easy to identify, the council said. Soil samples can also be collected at any time of year, both from canola plots and non-canola fields.

The council also urged growers to call their local Canola Council agronomy specialist if they suspect their varieties’ resistance has had a breakdown.

“Identifying breakdown will aid the entire industry in agronomic research and varietal development efforts to manage this disease,” Orchard said.

Caused by soil-borne Plasmodiophora brassicae, clubroot is established in Canada mainly in vegetable-growing regions of Quebec, Ontario, Atlantic Canada and British Columbia.

In infected canola, swollen galls appear on plant roots, cutting off the supply of water and nutrients to the plant, causing it to prematurely ripen and die. Typical yield losses run around 50 per cent but can run up to nearly 100 per cent in fields under severe clubroot pressure.

The disease’s first appearance in Canadian canola was in Quebec in 1997, but it took until 2003 for clubroot to turn up on the Prairies, in spots near Edmonton, from which it’s since been spreading. The disease has since been found in isolated cases in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and North Dakota. — AGCanada.com Network

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Canterra Seeds, the Winnipeg firm marketing the new CS2000 hybrid variety, clarified its claim for the seed in a statement on a company blog Wednesday, granting many growers may be seeing the term “intermediate reaction” for the first time.

Canterra launched the variety last month as a Genuity Roundup Ready hybrid suitable for all growing zones, with “R” (resistant) ratings for blackleg as well as for clubroot pathotypes 2, 3, 5, 6 and 8.

It also touted the new variety as the only hybrid on the market to have shown tolerance to clubroot pathotype 5x. The new pathotype was discovered in some canola fields in the Edmonton area in 2012 after plants from other R-rated varieties reacted to it.

The Alberta Canola Producers Commission on Monday had sought clarification on the term “intermediate” as it’s been applied to CS2000.

“While there is an agreed definition of what an intermediate reaction to the pathogen is, there is no general agreement about what an intermediate level of resistance means for yield loss or managing the buildup of resting spores in the soil,” commission general manager Ward Toma said in a release.

In its response Wednesday, Canterra cited both University of Alberta plant pathologist Stephen Strelkov and the pathology sub-committee of the Western Canadian Canola/Rapeseed Recommending Committee (WCC/RCC).

According to Canterra, both define “intermediate reaction” as a level of reaction to disease between 30 and 69 per cent.

By comparison, plants of an R-rated canola variety show 30 per cent or less reaction to a disease compared to a highly susceptible variety — and a variety from which the plants show 70 per cent or more reaction is rated susceptible (“S”).

When ranking canolas for their resistance to blackleg, the WCC/RCC further breaks down the zone between “R” and “S” into “moderately resistant (MR),” showing a blackleg severity level of 30-49 per cent compared to a highly susceptible variety, and “moderately susceptible (MS),” showing a severity level of 50-69 per cent.

Canterra emphasized in its blog post that a variety with an intermediate reaction against clubroot 5x is “not a silver bullet” against the pathotype.

Both the company and ACPC urged growers to continue to use all best-management practices for clubroot, such as cleaning equipment and rotating crops in affected fields, as well as choosing resistant varieties.

ACPC’s Toma said Monday it’s encouraging that some varieties aren’t “completely susceptible” to 5x.

“Up to this point, everything that was exposed to (5x) died, so this result offers evidence that strong resistance (against 5x) may yet be found.” — AGCanada.com Network

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