Investigating the Resistance (R) gene durability of canola cultivars and emergence of virulent blackleg isolates in farmers’ fields

Project Summary

The objectives of this study are to:

1. assess which cultivar resistance genes are most durable to disease pressure and make recommendations on when and how often to rotate cultivars studied
2. examine the potential of emergence of virulent isolates when a new cultivar without corresponding virulent isolates is introduced.

Overview:

 Field trials reported if and when virulent isolates emerged, the number of generations required to produce virulent offspring, and the comparison results between R gene lines, which increased the understanding of the durability (to disease pressure) of some R genes used within commercial cultivars. This helped form the foundation for current major gene resistance labels.

Note: This study was one of many making up the ‘Canola Disease Management Tools for the Prairies – Blackleg and Sclerotinia’ project that was led by SaskCanola in partnership with industry and funded under the Agri-Science Project (ASP) within the Growing Forward 2 Program.