Project Summary
Purpose
This study is part of the continued efforts to provide industry and producers with up-to-date pictures of L. maculans race profile, which can be used to guide the deployment or rotation of canola cultivars carrying different R genes. It can also gain important insights into pathogen race changes in response to resistant cultivars used over the years, allowing industry to be proactive before the erosion of specific resistance R genes.
Progress
Monitoring has continued since 2010. Isolates from 2018 have been analyzed, and samples from 2019 and 2020 are being tested and collected. COVID-19 affected progress, but researchers hope to complete 2019 samples by end of this fiscal year. Annual information on the avirulence-gene profile in L. maculans population allows breeders to pick effective R genes for blackleg resistance breeding, and helps agronomists and growers to select cultivars that carry effective R genes on a regional basis.