Crop Production Research Priorities

Current research priorities for canola crop production

Every year, the Canola Council’s crop production and innovation (CP&I) team identifies the research areas with the most potential to increase yields and improve the sustainability and competitiveness of Canadian canola. These priorities are set through consultation with expert steering groups, the canola value chain and the annual Canola Week.

For more information about these priorities, contact the agronomy specialist listed under each heading.

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CP&I top research priorities

• Investigate the interaction and relationship between blackleg and verticillium stripe.
• RNAi technology optimization for in field use on flea beetles.
• Develop improved sclerotinia stem rot risk forecasts and models for fields to evaluate risk.
• Developing best management practices (BMPs) to identify non-productive acres (including high emissions risk saline soils).
• Evaluate and optimize biological nitrogen fixation regime in canola.
• Impact of harvest management techniques on verticillium stripe disease severity.
• Controls for multiple mode resistant weed biotypes.
• Understand the genetics of resistance in clubroot and develop durable resistance sources.
• Quantify the opportunities for improved yield with enhanced efficiency fertilizer sources.
• Evaluate validity of current fertility recommendation models for hybrid canola under long-term zero till production.
• Determine strategies to manage soil microbiota for increased nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in canola.

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Sustainability

Contact: Ian Epp

• Determine the economic and production impact of climate change and landscape modification.
• Model canola’s carbon sequestration potential and investigate areas for improvement.
• Evaluate and identify alternative management tactics and tools for major canola pests.
• Understanding the production and environmental risks and benefits of tile drainage systems.
• Evaluate the economic, environmental, and production feasibility of cover crops to canola production systems.
• Discover water use efficiency improvements (ex. genetic, agronomic, irrigation management).
• Evaluate the role of canola’s microbiome in carbon sequestration.

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Integrated pest management

Insect pests

Contact: Keith Gabert

• Evaluate and identify alternative management tactics and tools for major canola pests.
• Technology and strategies to reduce off-target impacts of foliar insecticides and improve their efficacy.
• Insect pest monitoring and surveillance.

Flea beetles

• Trapping or pheromone application to interrupt mating or feeding of flea beetles.
• Improving flea beetle parasitism and bio-control options.
• Trap, or bait refuge cropping for flea beetle management.
• Tri-provincial survey on flea beetle populations.
• Alternatives to foliar application options for flea beetle control.
• Alternatives to neonicotinoids seed treatment options for flea beetles.
• RNAi technology optimization for in-field use on flea beetles.
• Genetic resistance to flea beetles.

Weeds

Contact: Shawn Senko

• Weed monitoring and surveillance, modelling of weed species shifts in a changing climate.
• Investigate and identify novel integrated weed management techniques for enhanced and diversified weed control methods.
• Controls for multiple mode resistant weed biotypes.

Sclerotinia stem rot

Contact: Chris Manchur

• Development of sclerotinia stem rot resistance in canola by incorporating resistance into parental lines and hybrids.
• Identification of genes and defense pathways underlying quantitative resistance to S. sclerotiorum in canola.
• Develop improved sclerotinia stem rot risk forecasts and models for fields to evaluate risk.
• Development of rapid in-field S. sclerotiorum tests for presence and risk.
• Measure new fungicides and other sclerotinia management products/technologies for placement on a comprehensive universal sclerotinia control scale/label.
• Optimize foliar fungicide efficacy for control of sclerotinia stem rot. Evaluate economic threshold of application.

Clubroot

Contact: Marissa Robitaille

• Understand the genetics of resistance and develop durable resistance sources.
• Use SNP/genomic methods of identifying pathotypes with differential hosts.
• Develop new techniques to help predict and avoid clubroot.
• Measure and assess clubroot risk in the past, present, and future.
• Develop methods to culture Plasmodiophora brassicae (Pb) in vitro (culturing or increasing inoculum of Pb without a plant host).
• Measure population dynamics and epidemiological factors influencing Pb populations over time.

Blackleg

Contact: Clint Jurke

• Novel techniques and technologies to effectively manage blackleg in tight canola rotations.
• Resistance durability in Canada:
  • Resistance (R) genes alone vs quantitative resistance vs R gene plus quantitative resistance.
• Quantifying the impact of crop rotation and crop species on inoculum pressure, disease severity, and seed contamination in commercial canola productions.
• Developing new Topaz isolines with R gene stacks (a potential new research tool for studying resistance longevity of single vs stacked R genes).
• Potential predisposition of herbicide applications to impact early blackleg infection in Western Canada.
• Testing the effectiveness of resistant varieties post-registration across the Prairies.

Verticillium stripe

Contact: Courtney Boyachek

• Standardized protocol for molecular diagnostics of V. longisporum.
• Cultural controls for effective management of V. longisporum.
• Impact of harvest management techniques on disease severity.
• Interaction and relationship between the pathogens L. maculans and V. longisporum

Liming

Contact: Keith Gabert

• Evaluate the impact of pH stratification and/or acid soils on crop production.
• Technology for pH amendment in zero till production systems.

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Harvest and Storage management

Harvest management

Contact: Shawn Senko

• Improve upon and test combine loss and yield sensor technology.

Storage management

Contact: Courtney Boyachek

• Development of best management practices for storage of canola in large bins (>10,000 bushel).
• Evaluation of alternative conditioning and drying methods/technologies and fan control systems for reduced energy requirements.
• Malathion breakdown and uptake by canola seeds in storage.
• Impact of seed respiration, elevated dockage, green seed, and immature seed on storability.

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Plant Establishment

Plant establishment

Contact: Jason Casselman

• Investigate and quantify agronomic and management factors impacting canola germination and yield potential (ex. harrowing and micro-tillage operations).
• Understand and quantify soil microbiological factors that impact B. napus germination and emergence.

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Precision agriculture and Profitability

Precision agriculture

Contact: Jason Casselman

• Survey and understanding of commercial precision agricultural tools available to producers to make better predictions of weather and pest impacts.
• Feasibility of polarimetric LiDAR and Landsat data to provide crop growth information to aid in growing season decision making.
• One-pass seeding system optimization and design.
• Feasibility of managing field variability through big data, algorithms, and climate/weather prediction models.
• Determining the optimal number of zones in field zone mapping, determining the realistic yield for each zone.
• Developing BMPs to identify non-productive acres (including high emissions risk saline soils).

Profitability

Contact: Jason Casselman

• Regional assessment and comparison on canola profitability.
• Evaluation on incremental return on investment from recommended agronomic practices.
• Strategies to improve profitability with increased production costs.
• Identify opportunities with farm data management systems on the creation of profitability maps from yield maps, and associate BMPs with nutrient management.

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Crop nutrient management

Contact: Warren Ward

• Quantify the opportunities for improved yield with enhanced efficiency fertilizer sources.
• Quantify societal, environmental, and on-farm economics of 4R management adoption.
• Update the impact of phosphorus and potassium levels on canola yield. 
• Investigate nutrient management opportunities to improve yield stability with a changing climate.
• Evaluate the need for/role of micronutrients in very high-yielding canola.
• Assessment of sulphate release over time from new elemental sulphur formulations.
• Evaluate validity of current fertility recommendation models for hybrid canola under long-term zero till production.
• Evaluate alternative methods of soil sampling and analysis that lead to efficient and accurate analysis.
• Evaluate utility of proximal sensors/imaging techniques for nutrient availability predictions and improved precision fertilization.
• Evaluate the effect of acidification of soils and incidence of manganese toxicity based on different soil properties.
• Determine strategies to manage soil microbiota for increased NUE in canola.
• Evaluate and optimize biological nitrogen fixation regime in canola.

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