Soil Pathogens: Verticillium Stripe & Root Rots
Don't let Verticillum sneak up on you! Book a Consultation.
Verticillium stripe of canola is spreading across the Canadian Prairies. This disease is very serious, able to lead to substantial yield losses once it gets established. Like clubroot of canola, once it reaches critical thresholds, that field is out of canola production for many years. Unlike clubroot, it is harder to diagnose due to its ability to co-exist with stem rot and black leg infections. There might be synergistic relationships between these pathogens. This leads to treatment plans focused on the wrong pathogens, while the Verticillium stripe is allowed to build and spread across your farm. Only a molecular genetics test can determine it is present when multiple diseases overlap.
Analyzing soil samples genetically, however, can be quite challenging. A few samples do not accurately reflect the field. To counteract this, we take hundreds to thousands of samples across as much of the field as possible and build a heat map of the genetic signatures within that quarter, showing you where the disease is and how much. A more exhaustive test but considering the risk of soil disease, it is important to know for sure! Not every sampling map will look the same, based on the quarter and the conditions of the field but all maps will be reflective of the risk for that area.
