An informational discussion about clubroot management and prevention drew roughly 40 local producers to the Penhold Memorial Hall last week.
Farmers came to learn how to minimize canola yield losses by using resistant varieties and practising the correct use of sanitation after attending a seminar about clubroot management from Kelly Turkington, agriculture and agri-food Canada researcher from the Lacombe Research Centre. He was joined by agronomy specialist Keith Gabert from the Canola Council of Canada on Oct. 24.
But most of the dual presentation emphasized how serious the clubroot problem in Alberta can be during crop season.
“Clubroot is a really important issue in this area,” said Gabert noting Edmonton has been hit hard by the disease. “It's only because we're right on the outskirts of where the really serious infestations have been, but it's moving south towards us.”
Clubroot was recently reported as a pest under Alberta's Agricultural Pest Act in 2007. Historically, it has been spread through soil that's infested with resting spores that are carried from field to field by farming equipment, including the use of tillage equipment.
“The wetter areas of the prairies are more at risk and it's something that's going to be a challenge given the crop rotations that we're following, which is basically cereal, canola, cereal, canola — which is not a great rotation to manage this disease,” said Turkington. “What drives this particular disease is warmer temperatures and moisture. Moisture and rainfall is probably the key thing.”
In fact, Alberta's Agriculture and Rural Development sector recently reported 17 municipalities facing problems with clubroot. However, Alberta is working towards minimizing the problem by preventing the spread of this pathogen and promoting public awareness about disease management plans.
“Lots of growers think it's a canola problem and it is. That's the only crop that it affects, and we really have to change their minds that it's a soil problem,” said Gabert. “It's going to be in their soil for 20 years so the best thing to do is to just avoid getting it in the first place.
“Try to prevent soil movement between fields and if (you) have an unknown piece of equipment or an unknown farmer coming in and out of (your) fields, (you) should get the dirt knocked off and have some sort of understanding about what kind of risk they might have.”
He added some of the best ways to avoid a clubroot problem include long rotation breaks, good sanitation practices and minimizing vehicle and equipment traffic that travels to and from the fields.
But the duo said barley, wheat and canola producers in this region need to get a handle on the problem in order to avoid a major loss in crop yields.
“It definitely kills the plants that are infected, or at least reduces (your) yield,” said Gabert. “In the horticulture industry, there are some thousand dollar an acre treatments that can set it back quite a bit but there's no cure for it. It's been around since the Romans and we're just going to have to learn how to deal with it.”
If you have any questions or concerns regarding clubroot, call Preachuk at 403-350-2150.
For more information about clubroot, visit http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex11519.
