Canadian scientists wanting to better understand why some canola varieties are resistant to clubroot are using special light beams for help with their research.

As clubroot disease spreads in western Canadian soil, growers who have yet to see symptoms in their fields have a decision to make on when they should they start growing varieties marketed as resistant to clubroot?

The clubroot story in western Canada continues to be written as researchers are finding additional strains of the pathogen that are capable of overcoming genetic resistance, says Stephen Strelkov, plant pathology researcher at the University of Alberta.

Moist conditions in 2016 may have helped to fuel an aggressive advancement of clubroot pathotypes, many of which can quickly overcome current clubroot resistance traits, warns the Alberta Canola Producers Commission.