Provincial Plant Disease Specialist Barb Ziesman. (Alice McFarlane/farmnewsNOW Staff)

By Alice McFarlane

Diseases in Canola

Sclerotinia and clubroot in Saskatchewan

Feb 14, 2020 | 12:11 PM

Roughly 100 farmers heard the province’s plant disease specialist share information on two of the most serious diseases in canola crops.

Barb Ziesman told the producers at Top Notch Farming in Melfort there was an increased incidence of sclerotinia in northeast Saskatchewan last year.

“Sclerotinia is one of the most challenging diseases to deal with. We did see a higher level in the northeast compared to the provincial average,” Ziesman told farmnewsNOW. “It would be due to the environmental conditions during flowering resulting in the spores and the pathogen as well as favorable conditions for infection.”

Ziesman said the history of high levels of sclerotinia in the field and neighbouring fields will be important to consider whether to apply a fungicide in future years.

She said many farmers choose to apply fungicides to their canola every year. She said that may not be necessary as management decisions need to be based on the risk in the current year.

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“Because it is driven by the environment, we often see an up and down pattern if you look at the historical trend. In dry years the environment isn’t going to favour disease development and you’re not going to get an economic return from your fungicide application. We encourage fungicide application decisions be made during the growing season, based on what’s happening in the field [and] based on the risk, as well as what’s happening with the environmental,” she said.

Clubroot is a soil-borne disease that causes swelling or galls to form on the roots, which can ultimately causes premature death of the plant.

The growing presence of clubroot in Saskatchewan has prompted a proactive approach to limit the spread of the disease.

Ziesman said a lot has been learned by watching what’s been happening in Alberta.

“We can look at our neighbors and look at what they’ve been experiencing. They’ve seen a really big spread, but they’ve also been seeing resistance eroding with resistance breaking down in a few fields. Now they’re not even able to use resistant varieties. They’re just not effective,” she said. “The biggest lesson in Saskatchewan is to start managing early and start managing with an integrated approach by using resistant varieties early, but use them only an extended rotations with at least a two-year break. That’s going to help us keep spore levels down if the pathogen is present and maintain the effectiveness of the resistant varieties.”

Ziesman said if producers haven’t seen clubroot or don’t think clubroot is present in their fields, then the focus should be on prevention.

“If we keep the pathogen levels low, we’re going to see tiny little galls but we’re not going to see a major impact on yields,” she said.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF