Production Systems Plants Theme Advisory Group Research Highlights Plant Pathology
Plant Protection Pest management Biology Diagnosis Production Efficiency Environmental Ecosystems Impact Product Diversification Product Quality Improvement Genetic technologies / plant breeding Research Focus
Capacity 6 faculty PI s 2 CARG, 1 AAFC adjunct prof 5 post-docs and research associates 6 graduate students Collaborations: OMAFRA, AAFC USDA/Univ. of Wisconsin Michigan State University Growers and Industry, including chemical companies
Researchers: 10-Tier 1 Projects G Boland P Goodwin T Hsiang S Loewen K Jordan M R McDonald A Navabi A Schaafsma C Trueman Capacity Some projects are also in Emergency Management
Crops/Plants Wheat Corn Tomatoes Root and bulb vegetables Woody Plants Turf grass Strawberries Vegetable crops Sugar beet
Case Study 1 Development of an integrated mycotoxin management system in Ontario grains Mycotoxins in wheat and corn are caused by the fungus Fusarium graminaearum. The fungus reduces yields, but most importantly reduces quality of the crops for human and animal feed. Research Team: Art Schaafsma, Todd Phibbs, Lily Tamburic- Ilincic, Victor Limay Rios- U of G Dr. J. Christopher Young - AAFC, Food Research Program Greg Stewart, Albert Tenuta and Helmut Spieser OMAFRA Plus, 1 post doc, I M.Sc. student, 5 co-op students
Case study 1 Development of an integrated mycotoxin management system in Ontario grains Objectives- In crop survielance of the mycotoxin ( DON deoxynivalenol) Screen cultivars or wheat and corn and breeding lines of wheat for disease and toxin development Evaluation of fungicides for disease control. Evaluate interaction of fungicides and host resistance ( QTL s) New analytical methods for the toxins Weather based forecasting Breeding for resistance in wheat
Case Study 1 Wheat with Fusarium head blight Fusarium on wheat grains Fusarium ear rot on corn
Development of an integrated mycotoxin management system in Ontario grains Results: Case study 1 Several lines of wheat have been identified with improved levels of resistance Triazole fungicides controlled Fusarium in wheat and reduced toxins in corn. In wheat, there was a synergistic effect of combining resistant lines with fungicides. c.
Development of an integrated mycotoxin management system in Ontario grains Results: Case study 1 Forecasting: High rainfall around silking and moderate temperatures ( 20-28 C) after silking contribute to high toxins in corn High toxin levels in corn were also associated with the predominance of susceptible lines in Ontario New techniques are being developed to identify multiple toxins. c.
Case Study 2 Integrating new technologies for improved management of soil-borne plant diseases: Biological controls, disease forecasting, and pathogen interactions = Soil borne Plant Pathogens Research team: Greg Boland and Mary Ruth McDonald in collaboration with Cheryl Trueman Mike Celetti, Janice LeBeouf, Albert Tenurta, Marion Paribomesaii- OMAFRA 1 M.Sc., 1 Ph.D. student 2 research associates 4 undergraduate students/ year.
Case Study 2 Soil borne Plant Pathogens: Objectives Evaluate biological controls and reduced-risk fungicides for management of soilborne plant pathogens. Sclerotinia on carrots, white rot of onions, botrytis leaf blight of onions Enhance IPM programs in Ontario through improved prediction models for plant diseases. - Sclerotinia on carrots Improve disease management through better understanding of pathogen etiology, genetic variation, and interactions. Vine decline of tomatoes, Phytopthora on peppers, Rhizooctonia on field crops and sugar beets Evaluation of reduced risk fungicides for disease management
Case Study 2 Sclerotinia white mold on carrots Botrytis leaf blight on onion
Case Study 2 Soil borne Plant Pathogens Results: Biocontrol products Contans (Coniotyrium minitans) and new products containing Trichoderma atroviride reduced the survival of the pathogens that cause white rot on onion, Sclerotinia rot of carrot and botrytis leaf bllight. Applying one product to the soil could suppress 3 diseases. The forecasting system for Sclerotinia rot of carrot was improved by developing a rapid (qpcr) method to identify and count spores.
Case Study 2 Soil borne Plant Pathogens Results: Trimming of the carrot foliage reduces Sclerotinia rot in carrots. Trimming in combination with fungicide sprays was most effective. A biofungicide containing chitosan (Elexa-4) was as effective as fungicide Lance for disease control. Vine decline of tomatoes was not controlled with the fumigant Vapam. Work continues to find products or management practices to reduce vine decline. Isolates of Rhizocotonia from sugar beet were found to include (35%) an isolate that is highly aggressive and has a broad host range.
Case Study 2 Soil borne Plant Pathogens Results: Isolates of the soil borne pathogen Rhizoctonia solani were collected from 80 fields. Many of these were highly virulent on corn, wheat, soybeans, canola and pea. Crop rotation was recommended to reduce Rhizoctonia in soybeans, but other methods to manage Rhizoctonia will have to be found.
Issues Replacement of faculty Downsizing within OAC means that some faculty positions are not being replaced when faculty retire i.e. Greg Boland However, there are numerous post doc s and research associates working on these projects.
Conclusions Excellent industry support: matching funds well over 1:1 Very strong technology transfer Many collaborations with OMAFRA, AAFC, growers groups in Ontario and industry Training HQP
Conclusions Can always use more funding in the Plant Production Program there are always good projects that don t get funded. The OMAFRA/U of G HQP program is very helpful in providing funds for graduate students.
Case Study 2
Instructions Presentation is limited to 15 minutes. maximum 6 slides Focus on: 2.Capacity (brief & rough estimates are fine): # of faculty, post-docs and graduate students involved Collaborations (e.g. AAFC, other universities) 3.(Main part) Some / few examples of high quality and high impact research: a.issue / objectives b.projects / researchers c.some findings / recognition of scientists d.implications / benefits to Ontario 4.Issues / challenges (Brief), e.g. loss and succession of key faculty 5.Summary / conclusions
c. Case Study 1