Summary: |
The blackleg disease of canola, caused by Leptosphaeria maculans, has resulted in serious economic losses to canola crops on the Prairies. In the early 90’s, researchers initiated a project to develop an economical control of blackleg by integrating the use of disease tolerant cultivars, crop nutrition, seed treatments and timing of fungicidal sprays. Field and growth chamber experiments were conducted to evaluate large dosages of seed treatment fungicides and the influence of zinc in combination with an early application of prochloraz foliar spray. Overall, the fungicidal spray did not show any effectiveness to control blackleg in canola, most likely because of the tolerance of the cultivar. As well, the disease severity was not significantly reduced with the use of zinc soil treatments. |
