First described in the 13th century in Russia, clubroot has been affecting worldwide brassica production, including canola, broccoli, and black mustard, since. Clubroot is so tenacious because the casual pathogen produces resting spores that can survive in infected soil for decades, surviving harsh environments like cold winters and hot summers. It is also easily transferable from field to field when farmers share equipment.
In Canada, clubroot is a very serious threat to the $27 billion dollar canola industry. In the last ten years, clubroot has led to $500 million in losses. And while some Canadian provinces do a great job trying to trace the pathogen in canola fields, other fields, growing mainly Brassicas vegetables, have been overlooked, resulting in a growing clubroot infection.
"As a plant pathologist, my philosophy has always been to listen to the farmers. They know the problems that the scientists should try to tackle," Edel Pérez-López, author of a paper recently published in Plant Health Progress, said. This attitude inspired him and his colleagues at the University of Calgary and the University of Saskatchewan to develop a new tool that will curtail the devastating effects of clubroot.
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