Canola Watch Jay Whetter

Nested association mapping is a tool to identify, with reasonable accuracy, the segments of DNA associated with complex traits – like nutrient use efficiency and drought tolerance. Sally Vail, research scientist and canola breeder with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Saskatoon, describes the highly valuable NAM tool she helped develop for canola breeding.

Host Jay Whetter shares a few highlights from the Canola Digest Science Edition for 2023. Read the whole magazine at canoladigest.ca. Look for "Science Edition 2023" in the Issues column on the left.

What causes yield variability within a field, and which factors are most significant? Taras Lychuk, research scientist in precision agriculture and crop systems at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Brandon, Manitoba, and Alan Moulin, retired soil scientist, share research (ongoing and completed) that will help answer these questions.

Our guest Linda Gorim is an assistant professor and Western Grains Research Foundation chair in cropping systems at the University of Alberta Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Science. Gorim leads a project to screen 160 canola lines to observe differences in photosynthetic efficiency. Before getting to that, the podcast starts with Gorim's long career path to Edmonton, including early ambitions to be a pilot.

Brian Beres, research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge, Alberta, shares results from his recent research on seeding rate, cultivar maturity and harvest method and how they stack together for higher canola yields. A summary of the study, including an elegant grid graph of results, will be posted soon at canoladigest.ca. Look for the Beres study in the 2023 Science Edition.

Alex Liu, a PhD student at the University of Saskatchewan, talks to host Jay Whetter about the canola root microbiome and how it relates to phosphorus availability. She has interesting observations about what happens when you remove the microbiome. (Hint: Plant yield drops dramatically!)

Here are the Latin names of the microbes Alex mentions, if you want to look them up: Burkholderia, Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Sordariomycetes, Olpidium (Olpidiomycota).