CPS Workshop - Exploring Blackleg Management Tools and Quantitative Resistance

Date
03/12/2021

CPS Workshop – Exploring Blackleg Management Tools and Quantitative Resistance.

Date: Friday, December 3, 2021 | 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM CST (Central Time) – Online

AGENDA

All times are in Central Standard Time (CST)

SESSION 1: New Tools in Blackleg Management

9:00 AM Welcome & Introduction: CAP Canola Cluster Theme 7 Blackleg Projects
Doug Heath, SaskCanola

9:10 AM “Sustainability on the Farm; how would rotation of R-genes against blackleg in canola help the grower and the industry?”
Dr. Dilantha Fernando, University of Manitoba

9:30 AM “Does one plus one always equal two: What’s happening when better flea beetle control meets new fungicide seed treatment for control of blackleg in canola?”
Dr. Shuanglong Huang, University of Manitoba

9:50 AM “Using seed treatments to manage blackleg on farm”
Justine Cornelsen, Canola Council of Canada

10:10 AM Q&A (Moderated by Dr. Gary Peng, AAFC)

10:30 AM BREAK

SESSION 2: Quest to Measure Quantitative Resistance to Blackleg

11:00 PM KEYNOTE “Quantitative resistance to blackleg in oilseed rape: from dissection to application.”
Dr. Regine Delourme, Institute of Genetics, Environment and Plant Protection, INRA, France

11:30 PM “Tools for rapid identification and integration of R and QTL genes against blackleg disease”
Dr. Hossein Borhan, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada

11:50 AM “Using ddPCR as a novel screening tool to identify quantitative resistance to blackleg of canola”
Dr. Gary Peng, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada

12:00 PM Q&A (Moderated by Dr. Dilantha Fernando)

12:30 PM Adjourn

ABSTRACT

KEYNOTE: Quantitative resistance to blackleg in oilseed rape: from dissection to application. RÉGINE DELOURME. INRAE, UMR IGEPP, Rennes, France
Quantitative resistance is generally more durable than major-gene mediated resistance but its genetic dissection might not be easy due to the influence of R genes in the genetic background or interactions with the environment. However, once quantitative resistance loci are identified, their deployment, either in combination with specific R gene(s) or as a standalone option, in elite varieties could be a long-term solution for disease management in a sustainable way. This had been clearly demonstrated for blackleg of oilseed rape. Quantitative resistance has been shown to increase the potential for durability of major resistance genes. In winter oilseed rape, quantitative resistance to blackleg disease is determined by numerous genetic factors, each having low to moderate effect on the resistance and their expression is often affected by changing environments or genetic backgrounds. Little is known on how quantitative resistance operates and what is the molecular basis underlying the response or resistance to pathogen infection. This talk will provide an update on the evaluation, mode of action, genetic determinism of quantitative resistance and ongoing studies to further decipher mechanisms underlying the resistance. The current status on the use of genetic resistance in managing blackleg in France will also be highlighted.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

Dr. Dilantha Fernando, Department of Plant Science, University of Manitoba
Dilantha is a professor at the Department of Plant Science and Dean of Studies at the University of Manitoba. He is an internationally renowned scientist, specializing in epidemiology and control of diseases on canola and cereals, with 178 peer reviewed papers and 15 book chapters. He has studied host-pathogen interactions at field and molecular levels using omics and genetics over 22 years, and contributed to pre-screening of canola germplasm for disease resistance providing useful information to breeders. Dilantha has trained 15 PhD and 14 Masters students, and many of them are still working for the canola industry in various capacities. Dilantha is a frequent keynote speaker at conferences/grower meetings, sits on many professional/editorial boards, and has won numerous awards, including a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society (2019) and Outstanding Research Award from the Canadian Phytopathological Society (2020). He is also a co-developer of 37 canola/HEAR cultivars bringing prestige and royalty funds to U of M.

Dr. Shuanglong Huang, Department of Plant Science, University of Manitoba
Dr. Shuanglong Huang is currently a Research Associate in the Department of Plant Science at the University of Manitoba. He received his PhD degree from the U of M in 2015, studying genetic manipulations of embryo and seed production in corn. He was then awarded with a National Mitacs Elevate Fellowship to investigate flooding tolerance through genetic modifications in soybean at U of M from 2016 to 2018. He has been focusing on canola blackleg research including flea beetle-blackleg interactions in canola on the Canadian Prairies since 2019. Shuanglong is also a professional agrologist registered with Manitoba Institute of Agrologists.

Justine Cornelsen, Agronomy Specialist, Canola Council of Canada
Justine Cornelsen is part of the Crop Production and Innovation Team with the Canola Council of Canada (CCC), where she covers the Mid-Eastern Prairies as an Agronomy Specialist. Her lead agronomic topics with the CCC are blackleg, sclerotinia, and verticillium management. She graduated in May of 2014 from Brandon University, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. In 2021, she completed her Master’s degree in Plant Science at the University of Manitoba on the strategic deployment of major resistance genes to manage blackleg in canola.

Dr. Regine Delourme, Research Scientist, Institute of Genetics, Environment and Plant Protection
Régine received her Ph.D. in Plant Genetics and Breeding in 1986, and is currently an INRAE Research Scientist at Institute of Genetics, Environment and Plant Protection (IGEPP), Rennes (France). She has developed expertise in the field of molecular mapping and application of genomics in genetic analyses and quantitative genetics. She now focuses on genomics-based dissection of quantitative resistance to different oilseed rape diseases, mainly blackleg and clubroot, and on the optimization of resistance durability. She has led a large number of research projects over the past 20 years on these diseases. She has authored/co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers.

Dr. Hossein Borhan, Research Scientist, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada
Dr. Hossein Borhan joined AAFC after graduating form the University of London, UK, in the field of Molecular Plant Pathology. He gained his molecular biology and genomics expertise during Ph.D and postdoctoral research, studying molecular interaction of the oomycete pathogen, Albugo candida with Arabidopsis and Brassica species. Dr. Borhan is currently a research scientist at AAFC Saskatoon Research Center and Development Center. His main research focus is on the genetics and genomics of Brassica – Leptosphaeria interaction. Cloning race –specific resistance genes and blackleg Avr genes; genomics of Leptosphaeria, development of R gene introgression lines, and developing markers for blackleg race determination are highlights of his research on Brassica-Leptosphaeria pathosystem.

Dr. Gary Peng, Research Scientist, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada
Gary received his Ph.D. in Plant Pathology at University of Guelph in 1992 and is currently a Research Scientist at AAFC Saskatoon working primarily on blackleg and clubroot diseases of canola, including plant-pathogen interaction, host resistance, pathogen race monitoring and disease management. He has led a large number of research projects over the past 15 years on these diseases and received several research and achievement awards. He has authored/co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers.

Registration closes at 3:00 pm CST on December 2.

Date subject to change

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