Blackleg, rhizoctonia seedling blight and sclerotinia stem rot are economically important diseases of canola, which have caused millions of dollars of losses in western Canada.
Canola is a major cash crop of the Parkland region of the Prairies where many soils (especially Gray Wooded) are deficient or potentially deficient in plant-available sulphur (S) for canola.
In the mid 1990s, Lygus bugs were becoming an increasingly important pest in canola. Researchers from Agriculture and Agriculture Canada in Ottawa and Saskatoon launched a three-year project in 1998 to develop a routine assay and diagnostic key to identify populations of Lygus in western Canada and immature stages of Peristenus species, a potential biological control.
In the mid-1990s, given the introduction of several blackleg resistant canola cultivars and the widespread adoption of reduced tillage systems, growers were interested in finding out if canola could be planted more often within a rotation.
In the late 1990s, fungicide application was the most important control method for Sclerotinia stem rot of canola for most producers.
The cabbage seedpod weevil was first discovered in 1995 in canola fields in Alberta; and by 1999 serious outbreaks occurred throughout southern and central Alberta.
Researchers initiated a study in 1999 in Alberta to compare live animal performance, carcass composition and meat quality of pigs fed wheat based or corn based diets supplemented with peas, canola meal and soybean meal either alone or in combination.
A three-year study was conducted to evaluate the resistance and tolerance of mustard, rapeseed and canola lines to the crucifer flea beetle, Phyllotreta cruciferae, and identify lines with superior agronomic attributes including seedling establishment, plant growth and seed yield.
As Canada’s total canola crush increased from an average of 1.3 million tonnes in the late 1980s to 2.6 million tonnes in the mid 1990s, so did the opportunities for use of canola by-products such as canola screenings, for the livestock industry.
An analysis of yield trends in Saskatchewan for various major crops have shown that although yields of barley and flax have been continuously increasing from the 1960’s through to 1999, canola yields have remained stagnant between 1991 and 1999.
Crucifer root maggots are an economic pest of canola production. However, the extent of root maggot injury to canola across the prairies was not known.
Researchers at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Station in Swift Current wanted to determine the adaptability of B. juncea genotypes to the agroclimatic conditions in the semiarid prairie.
