Genomic tools to mitigate the adverse effects of lodging in wheat
This project will aid in the development of long term tools for plant breeders.
Grain dryer efficiency
This project will focus on improving efficiencies of dryers currently installed by producers in MB and used for the other crops represented by MCA. A combination of engineering analysis and field testing will be peformed to quantify grain dryer efficiences as installed vs following recommended changes.
Multi-pronged fusarium head blight management strategy in western canada through insight into pathogen virulence mechanisms
The deliverables of this project will complement other national and international efforts for the identification of virulence genes in F. graminearum, which are mainly focused on reverse genetic studies, meanwhile it exemplifies the necessity of integrating forward and reverse genetics to accelerate the gene isolation processes. In addition, this study will be a meaningful step toward isolating FHB susceptibility genes in wheat by providing insight on their collaborative function with the pathogen’s virulence and DON production genes.
Increasing grain yield in CWRS wheat while maintaining grain protein levels and baking quality
The benchmark information that will be generated by this project will address the feasibility of achieving simultaneous genetic improvement in grain yield and baking quality-related traits in order to develop more resource-use efficient varieties.
Maximizing durable disease resistance in wheat
Our work will focus on the development and deployment of appropriate to marker-assisted selection of wheat DNA markers that will facilitate breeding of adapted to the prairie environment elite cultivars. These DNA markers and a germplasm carrying newly discovered resistance genes will be made available and will allow breeding programs to make improvements in preventing crop losses from stripe rust and FHB diseases.
Breeding hardier crops for Saskatchewan – dynamic phenotyping to dissect components of water stress in wheat
This project aims to breed more resilient crop varieties in the face of water stress
Phenotyping and genomic selection for improved barley deoxynivalenol (DON) resistance
This project will maintain progress in breeding improved DON resistant barley varieties and to identify new tools to breed for DON resistance.
Mapping novel fusarium head blight (FHB) and stripe rust resistance genes from watkins landraces
The long-term goal of this research, is to utilize natural immunity in wheat germplasm to identify new sources of effective resistance. The novel resistance genes identified will eventually be passed on to wheat breeding programs for development of FHB and rust resistant cultivars.
Targeting reproductive and spike traits for improving grain yields in wheat
This project will aim to develop new varieties, wth improved yields through the selection of lines with optimal reproductive and spike traits.
Generating a rapid and low-cost diagnosis of fungi on wheat
Management strategies are being challenged by the rapidly evolving and changing populations of these fungi, which are overcoming disease resistance genes and may be acquiring fungicide tolerance. In addition, these diseases can be caused by several different fungal species as well as different strains and races within those species. This is a major challenge for producers and breeders, because not all wheat disease resistance genes or fungicides will be effective across all fungal species, strains, or races. MALDI-TOF is the “gold standard” used by hospitals to identify microbes that cause human infection and disease because it is highly accurate and is one of the most efficient and cost effective methods. MALDI-TOF is rapid, sensitive, and economical in terms of both labor and costs, which are <1$ per sample.