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The fight against root diseases has brought together a team of pathologists from across the prairies. GROW YIELD 16 | Pulse Research Report PROJECT TITLE Development of an immuno-PCR for the detection of pea root rot causal agent Aphanomyces euteiches PROJECT LEAD Syama Chatterton and Claudia Sheedy, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada TOTAL VALUE OF PROJECT $350,000 FUNDING PARTNER Western Grains Research Foundation How's the oil in your truck today? It's easy to find out and you can do so in seconds. Remove the dipstick, wipe it off, replace it and have a look. Everything you need to know is right there. If only disease prediction in pulse crops was this straightforward. Syama Chatterton wants to make disease prediction more user-friendly, specifically for Aphanomyces, a causal agent of root rots in peas and lentils. "Currently the only management recommendation is extended rotation away from peas," said Chatterton, Plant Pathologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge. "But, how do you know when it's safe to plant them again? The idea is to measure the amount of Aphanomyces in soil to know whether it's okay to plant peas or lentils." The traditional method is to conduct bioassays in a greenhouse, a process that normally takes five or six weeks. That's far too long to be of value to a producer who needs to make pre-planting cropping decisions. In 2016, with funding support from Alberta Pulse Growers, Chatterton and colleague Claudia Sheedy set out to develop an Aphanomyces detection method that's accurate and far quicker. FIELD WORK BEGINNING THIS YEAR The spark for this research idea came from work done by Sheedy on Aphanomyces antibodies. From this basis, Chatterton and Sheedy are working on a real-time immuno-PCR assay that measures the DNA of the pathogen. "It is difficult to develop a test because it's hard to get it to be specific enough," Chatterton said, "so we are working on the specificity and sensitivity of this test method. It's working well, with very good sensitivity, and can detect low levels of Aphanomyces." In 2017, Chatterton will move beyond the greenhouse to see how well the immuno-PCR assay for Aphanomyces works in the field. Soil will be sampled and tested with the immuno-PCR assay. These findings will be double-checked for accuracy at a plant health lab. If the accuracy of the immuno-PCR assay can be validated, it could eventually lead to an in-field detection tool that could be used by a consulting agronomist or even an individual grower. The risk associated with root rots has caused many Alberta growers to remove peas from their crop rotation. That's regrettable on several levels, including short-term farm profitability, long-term soil health and climate impact. If growers had an easier way to measure Aphanomyces, they could get back into peas just as soon as the risk is low enough. Chatterton's work is helping to make this possible. "The hardest part of this is the extraction of spores from the soil," she said. "So, it won't be like checking oil on a dipstick test, but we are getting one step closer." If root rot's keeping you from growing peas, when is it safe to plant them again? This research project aims to cut weeks off the conventional testing process. Research Targets Easier Aphanomyces Testing

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