GrainsWest Winter 2020

Winter 2020 grainswest.com 13 BY DAVID SIMBO • ILLUSTRATION BY VECTEEZY.COM GrainsWest spoke with the researchers heading the three projects mentioned on the previous page that are being carried out at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Lethbridge Research and Development Centre. Research project: Beneficial insects in Prairie crops GrainsWest: What problem is this research project working to solve? Haley Catton: This project will focus on the economic and ecological value of biological pest control by beneficials. Results will help determine the hidden costs of insecticide use, guiding producers in making optimal insecticide use decisions in integrated pest management. GW: What is unique about this project? HC: This project will start filling a critical knowledge gap for Prairie producers on how best to manage pest insects while giving consideration to beneficial insects in farming opera- tions. It will initiate the process of assigning economic value to the beneficial insects that provide free pest control ser- vices and, in the long-term, will reduce unnecessary pes- ticide use. It will also identify key knowledge gaps to direct future research. It is a leadership initiative from a large research network of Prairie crop entomologists. We strongly believe that the value of beneficial insects must be quantified to be better appreciated and better integrated into field crop pest man- agement. GW: How may this research project benefit farmers? HC: Producers lack information on the value and vulnerabili- ty of biological pest control by beneficial insects, and there- fore incur hidden costs with insecticide use. Our long-term goal is to give producers the tools they need to make the best and most informed decisions for their farm operations. Research project: Pesticide impact on soil microbiome GW: What problem is this research project working to solve? Claudia Sheedy: We are hoping to help protect water re- sources from pesticide contamination via the development of mitigation measures. We have learned that microbes excel at pesticide degradation. Our objective is therefore to discover microbes—bacteria, fungi—which can degrade pesticides frequently used in cereal production. GW: What is unique about this project? CS: It couples genomic, soil and pesticide research into one applied project. It is the first bio-augmentation project in Canada as far as we know, and it is the first project of its kind dedicated to cereal production. GW: How may this research project benefit farmers? CS: While farmers have to use pesticides to control pests— weeds, insects, fungi—this research can demonstrate how using pesticides may result in a positive outcome, other than crop protection, by generating and using new knowl- edge that can help Canadian growers prevent water con- tamination by pesticides. Research project: Upcycling a defeated disease resistance gene of wheat GW: What problem is this research project working to solve? André Laroche: In 2000, we saw the appearance of a new race of stripe rust that was more aggressive. The pathogen has evolved and it is no longer recognized by the resistance gene called Yr10, and it can invade the plant. We want to modify the gene to again be effective against stripe rust. GW: What is unique about this project? AL: We are using a gene we had previously characterized. We know about the complete sequence of the gene and where and when it is expressed. From there, we can modify it and see if we can develop a variant gene that will be effi- cient. We could also use different variants together to hold down stripe rust pressure. This would open the door to all the other genes that have been defeated that then could be modified. That would be a simpler and faster way to bring novel genes into wheat. GW: How may this research project benefit farmers? AL: It’s known genetic resistance is the most efficient, the cheapest way for farmers to protect their crops. To be able to bring in genes that are resistant, to build a strong resist- ance level in all classes of wheat, this will directly benefit farmers. THE PROJECTS