Research

Falling Number (FN) is used to evaluate the amount of sprout damage in wheat, a critical component of wheat quality. FN is the amount of time in seconds it takes for a plunger to fall through a slurry of ground… Read More

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is the most important fungal disease that affects wheat throughout cereal growing regions of Canada. It is one of the five priority-one diseases of wheat in the cultivar registration system, and an “intermediate” resistance reaction is… Read More

In recent years a concept and technology, an accelerated disease phenotyping system, sometimes referred to as ‘speed-breeding’, has been developed with the aim of shortening the breeding cycle. The technique utilizes optimal light quality, light intensity, photoperiod and temperature control… Read More

In terms of salt tolerance, evidence suggests that key root adaptations underlying barley resistance to salinity include limiting uptake of sodium into the root and sequestrating into root vacuoles to limit sodium movement to the shoot. GABA may play a… Read More

Anthocyanins are water-soluble phenolic pigments responsible for red, purple, blue, or even black colors in fruits, vegetables, grains, flowers, and other pigmented plant tissues. They are important components to be included in the human diet especially due to their roles… Read More

In this project, the study team will focus on dissecting FDK through the use of innovative digital imagining in order to develop a classification based on the degree of FHB infection in the kernel to refine the genomic regions associated… Read More

The most desirable approach to protect crops against pathogens is to breed cultivars with disease resistance (R) genes. However, current methodologies to discover new R genes are labor intensive and are limited by germplasms that are effective against a single… Read More

Late maturity alpha-amylase (LMA) is a recessive genetic defect in wheat that is expressed only under certain environmental conditions. LMA results in the “synthesis of α-amylase (specifically the high pI isoform) during the later stages of grain development in the… Read More

Wheat makes an annual contribution of approximately $11 billion to the Canadian economy. Diseases, particularly Fusarium head blight (FHB) and rusts are major threat to wheat production in Canada. Among rust diseases, stripe rust is becoming a major issue since… Read More

In Western Canada, wheat is the cereal crop with the largest acerage; however, increasingly variable climate conditions and stress suchs as drought can affect plant development, yield and profitability for growers. This places more ephasis ondeveloping tolerant varieties with high… Read More