Managing Verticillium Wilt — Canadian Spud Congress Spotlight

With the Canadian Spud Congress coming up on March 22 and 23, we’re highlighting the sessions happening at it on Spud Smart. In this story we’re taking a closer look at the “Managing Verticillium Wilt in Potatoes with Mustard Biofumigation” session.

Verticillium wilt of potato is caused by a fungus that can reduce tuber sizes and quality through premature host death, resulting in yield and financial losses. The disease also can cause stem-end discolouration in tubers. Mustard biofumigation has been used to control Verticillium wilt in the United States and Europe but success hinges on a specific method. In this presentation, Haider Abbas and Zack Frederick from Manitoba will take you through their trials over the past few years to see if this is a viable option in Canada.

Moderator: Ashley Robinson, editor of Spud Smart

Time: 1 p.m. CDT on March 23

Sponsored by McCain 

Presenters

Haider Abbas currently works as the applied research specialist with Manitoba’s department of agriculture, in Carberry, Man. at the Manitoba Crop Diversification Centre, where he’s conducting an applied production research program with expertise in crop agronomy, soil and water management, crop variety evaluation, and organizing field research and extension activities.

Haider received his master’s degree in agricultural and biosystems engineering from the University of Manitoba, with a focus in soil and water engineering, and a bachelor of science in agricultural engineering, with a focus in irrigation and drainage engineering. Haider was born and raised on a family farm and currently lives in Brandon, Man. with his wife Faryal and two daughters.

Zack Frederick received his PhD in plant pathology from Washington State University in 2017 under Dennis Johnson studying the interaction of host-adapted pathotypes of Verticillium dahliae with weedy hosts. Frederick received his master of science in plant pathology from Cornell University in 2013 under Kerik Cox, studying the development and maintenance of QoI fungicide resistance in orchard populations of the apple scab pathogen Venturia inaequalis.

Frederick has been the applied potato research agronomist for MHPEC Inc since May 2017 and his research encompasses how to remediate processing potato yield variability through changes to fertility and disease management programs. Current projects focus on mustard biofumigation to manage Verticillium wilt, nitrogen management to improve row closure soil nitrogen availability, and sulphur management to also improve row closure nutrient availability.

To watch this session live register for the Canadian Spud Congress for free.

Thank you to our session sponsor Corteva Agriscience

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