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Randy Clear
- Canadian Grain Commission |
| Farmscape for August 29, 2002 (Episode 1057)
The Canadian Grain Commission reports preliminary indications are that the levels of fusarium infection in the most susceptible areas of the prairies are significantly lower this year than last.
Canadian Grain Commission Mycologist Randy Clear says it's difficult to independently assess the contribution of the various risk factors but the primary factor is the weather.
He says this past growing season much of the crop in the high risk area was able to flower at a time when there wasn't a particularly large amount of moisture.
Clip-Randy Clear-Canadian Grain Commission
Right now the very few samples that have come in are reflecting the reports of the Ag Canada field studies done earlier this year.
Manitoba levels are down noticeably from what they were last year, which was a very bad year for it, and Eastern Saskatchewan as well is down.
Typically Manitoba levels will be higher and certainly that's true again this year because of the fact we have had this year more suitable conditions for the disease than other parts of the prairies.
We also have more of the disease present in the environment allowing for more disease to occur.
Saskatchewan, for the most part, has been and continues to be a very unsuitable environment for the fusarium right now.
It's very low levels in all of Saskatchewan except for perhaps the eastern side along the Manitoba border.
Alberta again continues to have extremely low levels of that particular pathogen in the crop.
Clear says, although Alberta continues to experience extremely low levels of fusarium, there are areas of the province with climatic conditions favorable for development of the disease.
He says areas around Edmonton may be even more suitable for fusarium than areas in Manitoba and Eastern Saskatchewan that have experienced very high levels of the disease in the last few years.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.
*Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council |
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| Keywords: environment |
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© Wonderworks Canada
2002 |
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