CDC Hickie yellow field pea

CDC Hickie, a yellow cotyledon field pea (Pisum sativum L.) cultivar, was released in 2021 by the Crop Development Centre, University of Saskatchewan for distribution to Select seed growers through the Variety Release Committee of the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers. CDC Hickie has good lodging resistance, medium time to maturity, medium-sized, round seeds, mean seed protein concentration of 24.4%, and good yielding ability. It is resistant to powdery mildew and moderately susceptible to mycosphaerella blight and Fusarium root rot. CDC Hickie is adapted to the field pea growing regions of western Canada.

CDC Lewochko yellow field pea

CDC Lewochko, a yellow cotyledon field pea (Pisum sativum L.) cultivar, was released in 2018 by the Crop Development Centre, University of Saskatchewan for distribution to Select seed growers through the Variety Release Committee of the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers. CDC Lewochko has good lodging resistance, medium time to maturity, medium-sized, round seeds, mean seed protein concentration of 21.0%, and good yielding ability. It is resistant to powdery mildew and moderately susceptible to mycosphaerella blight and Fusarium root rot. CDC Lewochko is adapted to the field pea growing regions of western Canada.

CDC Tollefson yellow field pea

CDC Tollefson, a yellow cotyledon field pea (Pisum sativum L.) cultivar, was released in 2021 by the Crop Development Centre, University of Saskatchewan for distribution to Select seed growers through the Variety Release Committee of the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers. CDC Tollefson has good lodging resistance, medium time to maturity, medium-sized, round seeds, mean seed protein concentration of 23.9%, and good yielding ability. It is resistant to powdery mildew and moderately susceptible to mycosphaerella blight and Fusarium root rot. CDC Tollefson is adapted to the field pea growing regions of western Canada.

Functionally diverse flax-based rotations improve wild oat (Avena fatua) and cleavers (Galium spurium) management

Wild oat (Avena fatua L.) and false cleavers (Galium spurium) are currently a challenge to manage in less competitive crops such as flax (Linum usitatissimum L.). Increasing the functional diversity in crop rotations can be an option to improve weed management. Nonetheless, this strategy is not tested in flax in Western Canada. A 5-yr (2015-2019) crop rotation study was carried at three locations in western Canada to determine the effect of diverse flax-based crop rotations with differences in crop species, crop life cycles, harvesting time and reduced herbicides on managing A. fatua and G. spurium. The perennial rotation (flax-alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)-alfalfa-alfalfa-flax) under reduced herbicide use was found to be the most consistent cropping system, providing similar A. fatua and G. spurium control to the conventional annual flax crop rotation[flax-barley (Hordium vulgare L.)-flax-oat (Avena sativa L.)-flax] with standard herbicides. At Carman, this alfalfa rotation provided even better weed control (80% A. fatua, 75% G. spurium) than the conventional rotation. Furthermore, a greater A. fatua control was identified compared to conventional rotation where two consecutive winter cereal crops were grown successfully in rotation (flax-barley-winter triticale (x Triticosecale ex A. Camus)-winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-flax), greater A. fatua control was observed compared to the conventional crop rotation under standard herbicides. Incorporation of silage oat crops did not show consistent management benefits compared to the perennial alfalfa rotation but were generally similar to the conventional rotation with standard herbicides. The results showed that perennial alfalfa in the rotation minimized G. spurium and A. fatua in flax cropping systems, followed by rotations with two consecutive winter cereal crops.

Regional heterogeneity and unexpectedly high abundance of Cooperia punctata in beef cattle at a northern latitude revealed by ITS-2 rDNA nemabiome metabarcoding

Background The species composition of cattle gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) communities can vary greatly between regions. Despite this, there is remarkably little large-scale surveillance data for cattle GIN species which is due, at least in part, to a lack of scalable diagnostic tools. This lack of regional GIN species-level data represents a major knowledge gap for evidence-based parasite management and assessing the status and impact of factors such as climate change and anthelmintic drug resistance. Methods This paper presents a large-scale survey of GIN in beef herds across western Canada using ITS-2 rDNA nemabiome metabarcoding. Individual fecal samples were collected from 6 to 20 randomly selected heifers (n = 1665) from each of 85 herds between September 2016 and February 2017 and 10–25 first season calves (n = 824) from each of 42 herds between November 2016 and February 2017. Results Gastrointestinal nematode communities in heifers and calves were similar in Alberta and Saskatchewan, with Ostertagia ostertagi and Cooperia oncophora being the predominant GIN species in all herds consistent with previous studies. However, in Manitoba, Cooperia punctata was the predominant species overall and the most abundant GIN species in calves from 4/8 beef herds. Conclusions This study revealed a marked regional heterogeneity of GIN species in grazing beef herds in western Canada. The predominance of C. punctata in Manitoba is unexpected, as although this parasite is often the predominant cattle GIN species in more southerly latitudes, it is generally only a minor component of cattle GIN communities in northern temperate regions. We hypothesize that the unexpected predominance of C. punctata at such a northerly latitude represents a range expansion, likely associated with changes in climate, anthelmintic use, management, and/or animal movement. Whatever the cause, these results are of practical concern since C. punctata is more pathogenic than C. oncophora, the Cooperia species that typically predominates in cooler temperate regions. Finally, this study illustrates the value of ITS-2 rDNA nemabiome metabarcoding as a surveillance tool for ruminant GIN parasites. Graphical Abstract