Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business, is poised to provide canola growers in clubroot-affected areas with a new solution.
The company, with assistance from industry experts and independent researchers, is racing to bring a new canola hybrid to market next year that provides genetic resistance to the disease.
“This breakthrough will have tremendous benefits to canola growers in areas of Alberta where the disease has become a significant issue, therefore it is critical that we get this hybrid to market as soon as possible,” said Ian Grant, president and business director of
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Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited in Canada. “We are working hard to get seed into the hands of growers for seeding next spring,” he said.
The new canola hybrid demonstrated similar yield potential to leading commercially available hybrids, contains the Roundup Ready trait as well as strong agronomic characteristics. Pioneer Hi-Bred researchers developed this hybrid by transferring non-genetically modifi ed clubroot resistance into elite Pioneer genetics.
In 2008, several candidate hybrids were field tested in the Edmonton area in locations where the clubroot strains were known to be present. “By testing hybrids under heavy disease pressure, we get an accurate indication of the true resistance,” said Dave Charne, Pioneer Hi-Bred research director. One of the test hybrids showed a high level of resistance to the clubroot strains in those fields.
Pioneer Hi-Bred will seek early registration of this hybrid in 2009 with a full-scale commercial launch in 2010.
