According to surveys conducted between 2015 and 2017, 48 to 99 per cent of lentil and pea fields in Saskatchewan had moderate to severe root rot; heavily infested fields in Saskatchewan and Alberta reported complete yield losses. There are few tools to combat root rots available – long crop rotations or lowering the pathogen load in a field through control options applied to other crops in rotation are the most common ones to combat Aphanomyces euteiches and Fusarium avenaceum – two soil-borne root rots found across the Prairies – respectively.

In January, Sabine Banniza, a professor in the University of Saskatchewan's College of Agriculture and Bioresources, received funding from Saskatchewan's Agriculture Development Fund (ADF) and the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers Association for a four-year project to develop a multi-parent advanced generation intercross (MAGIC) lentil population that aims to have resistance to A. euteiches and F. avenaceum.

In this episode of Inputs, Banniza speaks with Top Crop Manager East editor Alex Barnard about the goals and intended methods of the MAGIC lentil project, lentil breeding and resistance genes in general, and the particular challenges created by A. euteiches and F. avenaceum.

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Support for this episode provided by Gowan Canada.