Manitoba Agriculture reminds farmers to follow best management and disease-prevention practices as they begin seeding their 2017 crops.
Primarily, the use of disease-resistant varieties, proper crop rotation and good weed management of alternate hosts can decrease the likelihood of a soil-borne disease infesting a field. These practices will also help prevent heavier infestations from developing within a field where a disease may already be present at undetected levels. Another strategy is introducing longer rotations using non-susceptible crops. This can help reduce the risk and impact of an infestation. Producers should also consider working last on fields that are known or suspected of having a soil pathogen. This can reduce the risk of propagating the pathogen and minimize the workload involved in thoroughly cleaning infested equipment during busy times.
An important practice to consider is avoiding field operations while conditions are wet and muddy to reduce the amount of soil clinging to equipment. Proper equipment sanitization especially removal of large clumps of soil from farm machinery, vehicles and tools is a key factor for preventing the spread of soil-borne insects like wheat midge, weed seeds, pathogens, and diseases like clubroot, verticillium wilt and soybean cyst nematode that can be carried in soil and spread to other fields.
Clubroot can cause premature crop ripening and economic losses due to reduced yield in host crops including canola. The spores are soil-borne and long-lasting, surviving in the soil for up to 20 years. Once the disease is established in a field, it requires long-term management solutions. Producers are urged to get fields tested to see if clubroot is present and at what level to determine what management techniques should be employed.
Verticillium wilt in canola was detected in Manitoba in 2014. Currently there is no foliar or seed treatment fungicide registered for control of this disease. In addition, there is no host resistance in canola varieties at this time. Preventing the disease from entering a field is a practical management technique.
Source : Manitoba Agriculture