By Jana Rumpel, Crop Lab and Field Technician, and Alireza Akhavan, PhD, AAg, Provincial Plant Disease Specialist, Crops and Irrigation Branch, Regina
August 2024
Clubroot is a destructive and harmful soil-borne disease that can be hard to trace if your crop doesn’t have any visible symptoms. Even if there are no visible symptoms, there may be a traceable amount of clubroot in the soil that can spread and get significantly worse if no control measures are taken. Often, the pathogen can be kept at a low impact if it is caught early enough. The easiest and most efficient way of assessing clubroot is by getting a soil test.
The Ministry of Agriculture is working with SaskCanola to offer free soil DNA testing to allow producers to test their soil for clubroot. Soil testing bags will be available to pick up by late-August and producers and agrologists have until November 1, 2024, to submit their samples for lab analysis. SaskCanola will cover the cost of the testing.
Producers can pick up soil testing bags and instructions on how to collect a sample by:
- Visiting your local ministry regional office;
- Contacting SaskCanola;
- Contacting a Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities – Plant Health Technical Advisor; OR
- Contacting your Rural Municipality office (they may be participating in the program).
Producers will not be asked to provide a specific field legal land description or GIS co-ordinates of where the soil sample was taken from. The location of positive fields will only be provided at the RM level on the Clubroot Distribution in Saskatchewan map as a way to raise awareness of disease risk in the region.
The testing is not only for producers but also for industry agrologists who would like to get soil tested for their clients. If you are an agrologist and would like to receive soil testing bags, please contact SaskCanola at 306‑975‑0262.
DNA findings through this program will be communicated only to the submitter of the samples and only for the purpose of providing agronomic information. There will be no additional follow-up, even if the test is positive. Ministry staff can offer information and resources on managing clubroot, if requested.
The Plant Health Act recently came into force and replaced The Pest Control Act as the legislation responsible for the surveillance, control and destruction of regulated pests in the province. Clubroot is no longer considered a declared pest under The Plant Health Act, and all regulatory measures previously in place to control clubroot have been lifted. This includes specific control methods, reporting obligations and the requirement to sign clubroot management agreements.
It’s up to producers to decide how they wish to manage clubroot if it is found through this program. Producers are encouraged to monitor their fields and adopt proactive clubroot management. This includes the use of clubroot resistant canola varieties, using extended rotations (minimum two-year break from canola), implementing biosecurity practices and scouting canola crops by examining roots for the presence of clubroot galls. More information on how to manage clubroot is available in the Saskatchewan Clubroot Management Plan.