About Us

Provide growers with recommendations and tools for effective on-farm root rot risk management and assessment.

1. Infection risk prediction tools and resources are accurate and consistent (soil tests, maps).
2. Testing of product effectiveness and agronomic practice continues.
3. Understand the impacts of agronomic management on root rot complex, including crop rotation, crop sequencing, plant health, and fertility.
4. Drive development and adoption of best agronomic management practices.

• Provide management recommendations on rotations, crop sequence, seed timing, fungicide and other biocontrols, herbicide choice, water management, crop nutrition, soil testing, etc.
• Provide growers with the latest prevention and management information. Provide grower recommendations to remove Fusarium-susceptible varieties from rotations.
• Obtain low, medium, and high spore results to establish infection risk thresholds.
• Create protocols for culturing and maintaining Aphanomyces in the lab setting.
• Develop lab standardization and reliable standard soil and plant testing methods.
• Develop reliable lab and field-testing protocols to determine if genetic resistance is effective.

• Identify interval periods, beneficial rotation crops, effective biocontrol agents, and preventative approaches at various pulse crop life cycle stages.
• Complete product testing and combinations of treatments to reduce spore loads in heavily infested soils, increasing the availability of control options.

• Develop an integrated approach to disease prevention and control.
• Conduct long-term crop rotation studies.
• Determine the impact of new chemistries and product testing, including biostimulants and foliar nutrition.
• Develop recommendations to improve soil health to provide pathogen suppression.

Robust genetic resistance to root rot pathogens is available to growers.

1. Varieties of peas and lentils resist Aphanomyces and fusarium species and are commercially available.
2. New sources of resistance for Aphanomyces and Fusarium and resistance across the whole pathogen complex are identified and developed.
3. Integrated management strategies are available to protect the levels of resistance.
4. Genomics of resistance is understood.
5. Breeders have access to tools and genes for incorporating into germplasm.
6. Dedicated field nurseries for root rot diseases are established within Western Canada.

• Establish reliable disease nurseries in multiple locations/environments with irrigation for continued root rot research with accurate disease characterization.

• Identify host signals that stimulate the germination of oospores.
• Determine cross-pathogenicity of Fusarium species, including F. graminearum.
• Investigate moisture conditions and interaction between soil and landscape dynamics, hydrology, and disease.

• Determine host-pathogen interactions; identify virulence factors and pathogen effectors.
• Investigate the impact of root microbiome, soil microbiome, and crop rotation on root rot disease.
• Develop capacity to study host-pathogen interactions with knockouts (e.g. via genome editing).
• Develop benchmarks for microbiome communities/organisms that impact root health and translate into risk assessment and producer recommendations.

The root rot pathogens’ biology, pathogenicity, and interactions are understood for pulses.

1. The structure of populations is known and monitored regularly.
2. Hosts are known for pathogenicity.
3. The biology and life cycle of the pathogen(s) are documented.
4. Understand the influence of the environment (soil, moisture, soil microbiome) on pathogen(s).
5. Interaction of the root rot species is understood.

• None identified.

• Conduct resistance stability analysis on new pea and lentil varieties.
• Identify molecular markers for resistance.
• Develop partially resistant cultivars, novel germplasm, and resistance development.
• Adapt resistance sources from other programs into North American breeding programs.

• Identify new sources of resistance for Aphanomyces & Fusarium and resistance across the whole pathogen complex.
• Develop new genetic resources for resistance (i.e., large-scale or targeted mutagenesis).
• Develop capacity for genetic transformation and genome editing to exploit technologies for gene validation and potential variety development.
• Augment pea and lentil plant’s innate immune response.
• Develop new resistant cultivars.

Reliable funding capacity and a streamlined process for research selection are established.

1. A co-funded resource pool is created and leveraged to drive root rot projects.
2. Process for applications and decisions are established.

• Establish a co-funded resource pool for root rot projects across APG, SPG, and MPSG.
• Develop and establish a logistical process for simultaneously submitting collaborative and combined project funding submissions from researchers to APG, SPG, and MPSG.

Human, capital, or monetary resource limitations do not hinder the advancement of root rot research.

1. Increased capacity for root rot research.
2. Extended funding is established for projects that require long-term research.

• Collaborate and share research initiatives and projects between APG, SPG, and MPSG to coordinate leveraging funding and research scope, scale, and deliverables.
• Establish long-term field studies and research projects funded by all three pulse commodity groups with secured funding to focus on collaborative root rot research.

Cohesive development, coordinated recommendations updates, and root rot extension across provinces and disciplines for research selection are established.

1. Unified and consistent messaging on root rot recommendations.
2. One-stop shop for root rot information by establishing a website.
3. A research library is available that contains all relevant reports and summaries on root rots.
4. The Pulse Root Rot Network of stakeholders effectively mobilizes efforts to eradicate the risk of root rots.

• Review root rot-associated content from APG, SPG, and MPSG and collate it into one collaborative version. Determine one agreed-upon version of all root rot recommendations, scouting techniques, seed, soil, and plant testing methods, diagnosis, and management tools for Western Canadian pulse growers.
• Develop and launch the RootRot.ca website, including an updated rootrot.ca website with tools, resources, a research database, a search engine, and networking functionality.
• Collaborative working agreement with APG, SPG, and MPSG to continue updating rootrot.ca, communicating research results and initiatives at grower and industry events, and funding research initiatives and projects to eradicate root rot in Western Canada.
• Expand to other pulse crops beyond peas and lentils. Include Eastern Canadian commodity groups and the Northern United States (U.S.).
• Support network development and collaboration across North America and globally.

Establish a reputation for gold-standard processes in root rot research and extension.

1. Increased capacity for root rot research.
2. Extended funding is established for projects that require long-term research.

• Establish a PRRN of researchers and partners with a platform for communication across stakeholder groups.
• Present PRRN work, Rootrot.ca and ongoing research updates at grower events, industry meetings, conferences, etc.