Clubroot Information Shared At CanolaPalooza

Jul 10, 2019

The third annual CanolaPalooza event in Saskatoon this week covered a lot of topics including Clubroot.

Barb Ziesman, a Plant Disease Specialist with the Ministry of Agriculture, says clubroot is a soil-borne disease so producers should try to minimize any soil movement and scout their fields for the disease.

In 2018, the clubroot pathogen was found in 43 canola fields in Northern Saskatchewan.

Ziesman says clubroot is not widely found in Saskatchewan, so it’s still in a limited number of fields.

“That means we actually have an opportunity for prevention. We can prevent the spread and the introduction into new fields. On that side, we need to start thinking about bio-security and limiting that possibility of introducing the pathogen.”

Producers should be cautious when entering fields to not transfer soil by knocking it off implements and vehicles and make sure anything coming in from fields known to be contaminated is cleaned properly.

Ziesman says canola producers should also look at extending their crop rotations in an effort to prevent the disease.

Click here to see more...

Video: Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes | Field Talk Friday

Field Talk Friday | Dr. John Murphy | Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes

Most of us spend our time managing what we can see above ground—plant height, leaf color, stand counts, and yield potential. But the deeper you dig into agronomy, the more you realize that some of the most important processes driving crop performance are happening just millimeters below the surface.

In this episode of Field Talk Friday, Dr. John Murphy continues the soil biology series by diving into one of the most fascinating topics in modern agronomy: root exudates and the role they play in shaping the microbial world around plant roots.

Roots are not passive structures simply pulling nutrients out of the soil. They are active participants in the underground ecosystem. Plants constantly release compounds into the soil—sugars, amino acids, organic acids, and other molecules—that act as both energy sources and signals for soil microbes.