Canola Watch 2021 exam – Section 2 – Seed decisions

The Canola Watch 2021 annual exam for Certified Crop Advisors and Certified Crop Science Consultants (and anyone else who wants to enhance their agronomy skills) has five sections:

• 4R nutrient management (20 questions and 2 CEUs)
• Seed decisions: Choose the best cultivar for each field (10 questions and 1 CEU)
• Plant establishment: Achieve a uniform 5 to 8 plants per square foot (10 questions and 1 CEU)
• Pest management: Identify and manage the top yield robbers (20 questions and 2 CEUs)
• Harvest and storage: Deliver every seed at No.1 grade (10 questions and 1 CEU)

Find them all here.

Customize the exam based on credits you need. Credits will apply in either 2021 or 2022, depending on when you pass each section. For those who pass, Canola Watch will submit names and program ID numbers to the program to have the credits counted.

For questions or additional information on this exam, please contact Jay Whetter at 807-468-4006 or whetterj@canolacouncil.org.

Section 2: Seed decisions

What are the most useful seed traits for each field? Choices can include disease resistance, days to maturity, pod-shatter resistance and more. This section has 10 questions to help CCAs, growers and agronomists determine the best canola cultivar for each field.

Answers will be found in Canola Watch content from 2021 as well as supporting resources from Canola Encyclopedia, Canola Research Hub and more.

Achieve a minimum score of 70 per cent (7 out of 10) to receive 2 Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) or Certified Crop Science Consultant (CCSC) continuing education credits (CEUs). Specific credits for CCAs are: 1 CEU in crop management. CCA tracking number SS 55362.

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About you

1. REQUIRED - Your full name:

2. Your CCA number: (Leave blank if not applicable)

3. Your CCSC number: (Leave blank if not applicable.)

4. REQUIRED - Email address:

5. Phone number:

6. REQUIRED - What region best describes your work territory?

Manitoba

Saskatchewan

Alberta

Other Canadian province

Outside Canada

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The exam

7. Canola Watch has a new collection of articles called “Fundamentals”, which you can find in the grey box on the right at canolawatch.org. In the Plant Establishment section, the article called “Choose the right cultivar for each field” has this tip to spread out harvest: A strategy to ensure an actual difference in maturity at harvest is to seed earlier-maturing cultivars __________. (Fill in the blank.)

After seeding other cultivars

At a higher seeding rate

Before seeding other cultivars

Without any seed-placed fertilizer

8. That same article says choosing the best cultivar for each field will also depend on the weeds in that field. If the field has Group-9-resistant kochia, the article recommends which herbicide-tolerant system?

Clearfield

Liberty Link

Roundup Ready

TruFlex

9. While drought and excess summer heat will reduce yield for all canola, some cultivars may tolerate extremes somewhat better than others. One way to identify them, as noted in this article, is to use canolaperformancetrials.ca data and look for cultivars that _____________. (Fill in the blank.)

Tend to stand up better, with consistent high lodging scores

Have average yields when compared to others

Show more consistent results year to year and site to site

Yielded the best in your area last year

10. If blackleg severity is increasing to the point where yield loss is likely, a grower will want to switch to a cultivar with a different major gene for blackleg resistance. The Canola Encyclopedia describes the new gene labeling system for cultivars and provides tips on how to make an informed decision. When it comes to major R-gene selection, what is the foundation for an informed decision?

A blackleg race identification test

Stem clippings to identify the presence of blackleg

If the field had a cultivar with resistance group (RG) C, switch to one with RG D

Don’t grow canola on that field for the next three years

11. Incentive to switch to a different blackleg R-gene could come by putting a dollar value on the yield loss. Please go to the Blackleg Yield Loss Calculator at canolacalculator.ca and enter the following values: Average severity rating is “2”; incidence percentage is “25”; project canola yield is “50” bu./ac.; and price of canola is “17” $/bu. With these figures entered, what does the calculator say is the “value per acre of potential yield loss”?

$5.86

$10.22

$15.63

$20.54

12. The clubroot chapter at canolaencyclopedia.ca includes a new Manage Clubroot: Minimize Risk infographic. Under the “Keep spores low” heading, what wording does the infographic use to encourage farmers to grow clubroot-resistant cultivars, or “Grow CR”?

Early infestations can be missed for years while susceptible hosts multiply spores to catastrophic levels.

All seed companies have CR cultivars, so why not?

Everywhere on the Prairies is at risk for clubroot, and CR can prevent it from arriving on a farm.

If you’re growing canola, Grow CR!

13. The September 2021 Canola Digest has an article called “Not all pod shatter tolerance is the same”. The article says growers need to know two important things about pod shatter resistance. The first is that cultivars with pod shatter resistance do not all have the same level of resistance. What is the second thing?

Pod shatter resistance is not immunity to pod shattering.

Pod shatter resistance gives people a false sense of security.

Pod shatter resistance does not reduce or prevent pod drop.

Pod shatter resistance is only useful if you leave canola standing well past the ideal harvest time.

14. In the September 2021 Canola Digest article “How to improve yield with genetics,” Dave Kelner from Bayer CropScience says canola growers in North Dakota tend to choose early-maturing cultivars even though North Dakota has a longer growing season than the Canadian Prairies. Why do they do this?

The U.S. definition of “early maturing” is different.

So the crop flowers before the onset of July heat.

North Dakota farmers tend to plant their canola a lot later.

So they can harvest the crop in time to plant winter wheat.

15. That same article has a box at the end called “Four big seed factors for 2022”. Three of them are genetic characteristics – days to maturity, clubroot resistance and harvest traits. The fourth factor is part of the cultivar decision, but isn’t a genetic trait. What is it?

Check the seed size for every seed lot

Consider enhanced insecticide seed treatment for flea beetles

Choose more than one cultivar for each farm

Look at options for seed-applied biologicals such as Jumpstart

16. The Canola Research Hub at canolaresearch.ca has a blog post called "Risk predictions and management tactics for sclerotinia stem rot". The blog post links to a study by Dwayne Hegedus. (Look under the heading about genetic resistance.) The Hegedus study’s purpose is to develop a method to screen B. napus lines for what exactly?

Higher levels of glucosinolate, which is a natural fungicide.

Lines that do not have petals, which should eliminate the major pathway for disease.

Smaller leaves so spore-infested petals have fewer places to land.

Resistance to proteins secreted by S. sclerotiorum that cause necrosis.

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