Researchers in the south of Alberta are trying to put the advantage in the battle against a stubborn disease that cleanses up to 10 percent of Canada’s wheat harvest annually and costs the farmers millions of dollars.
It is called toasted disease, a fungal infection called by small roasted lesions that creates in the green leaves of wheat plants. While it may not threaten to eliminate entire fields like others, its persistence makes it a regular headache for producers.
Dr. Rep Aboukhadur, President of Agriculture and Agriculture Research Laboratory of Canada in Lethbridge, Alta., Lead a global collaboration for more information about how the disease works.
“[Tan spot] It is not necessarily the most harmful … but it is widespread, that is safe. In a commercial field, I can always find a tan point regardless of what, “said Aboukhadur.
“So, it depends on you how you look at it. Do we have the privilege of ignoring the damage from five to 10 percent each year?”
The damage caused by the disease can add quickly.
In 2022, the wheat generated More than $ 50 billion In income in western Canada, according to Canada Cereals, and is responsible for thousands of jobs. Saskatchewan is the largest producer, followed by Alberta and Manitoba.
Like any cultivated plant, wheat is susceptible to squares. While such spot disease can be dark, it represents millions of dollars in losses annually.
The Aboukhaddour Laboratory in Lethbridge, in recent years, has made new research advances that could help shed more light on how the disease spreads and infects plants. With luck, these findings, says Aboukhadur, will help the creation of wheat forms more resistant to the disease.
“The fundamental question for us has not changed, which is how to protect our foods, basically. That’s what it is about for me,” he said.
“To develop effective genetic resistance, it must generate tolerance to the pathogen itself.”
Understand how the tanned place works
The tools that a pathogen uses to move or kidnap the defense system of a plant is known in the scientific community as “virulence factors” of a disease.
Aboukhadur says that there is no wide understanding of such spot virulence factors, but there are some things known to certainty.
So spot extends through spores and can spend the winter in the stubble of crops: wheat, but also barley. This means that it is more threatening for producers who practice monochroppes, or repeated cultivation of a crop in the same field.
Aboukhadur also knows how spot he thrives in the humid temperate climate, particularly at the beginning of spring, and in the fields that use irrigation systems.
Another thing that researchers are very aware is that so spot is resistant, and is present in all parts of the world where wheat is cultivated.
Aboukhaddour team found evidence of this when they could sequence the genome of the disease based on agriculture and the vast collection of tanned spots samples around the world.
“[We were able to] Show that this fungus has the ability to have a very dynamic or flexible genome, “he said
“[It has] evolved and adapted through time to share the same weapons to kill the plant. ”
Another thing that affects the final result of the farmer
So Spot’s disease was identified about 50 years ago, which, in scientific terms, means that it is relatively new in its appearance.
Aboukhadur says that losses in the 1970s due to tan point disease were particularly bad. It was before farmers in Canada began to use routinely fungicides.
Dr. Kelly Turckington is a pathologist of plants of the AAFC Research Laboratory in Lacombe, Alta., Which has collaborated with the Aboukhaddour team in several projects.
He says that spot is part of a group of diseases called “leaf stain complex”, which are the main performance thieves for wheat farmers.
So spot can be a challenge for producers to handle, not only because it can survive during the winter, but also because there is not much information about what wheat strains are less susceptible, says Turkington.
It is known that it infects all the main wheat strains cultivated in Canada, including Durum’s wheat.
While crop rotation is an effective way to combat the brown point, many factors are at stake when a producer decides where to plant what cultivation, disease management is just one, says Turkington.
Other aspects, such as basic products prices and knowledge of alternative crops, are also considerations.
Another tool that farmers have in their chest of tools are fungicides. But, depending on the size of the farm, Turkington says that producers can cost thousands of thousands of dollars.
Stephen Vandervalk, a farmer and alberta vice president of the Wheat Producers Association, told CBC News the impact of such spot disease on farmers in the province Fluctúa from year to year.
“Because it is so variable, one year you will have it badly, and it could happen three years before you see it again,” said Vandervalk. “When you get it wrong, it can be totally devastating.”
He added that farmers often use fungicide as a unique approach for all when it comes to diseases as spot. But there is a better way to prevent the blight from developing that has hopes.
“The best way to do it is to put it in genetics, so it is resistant to tanned stain just when it is a seed.”
Although Aboukhadur believes that the use of fungicide is important, she says that farmers may have given such spot printing is less harmful than it really is. He is also worried that the disease becomes resistant to certain fungicides.
Turkington says that so spot is not in his radar as something that coulds tend to fungicides, but he wants research and the agricultural community to remain attentive.
“It is very important in terms of being prepared to address particular issues that begin to emerge, in an earlier stage, instead of letting things reach a point where it is more difficult to effectively handle effectively [them]”
