Exploring the Ecological Impact of Canola-Inclusive Cropping Systems in Western Canada
Principal Investigators: Christian Willenborg and Master’s Student Ted Chastko
Collaborator: Julia Leeson
Long-term climate and annual weather are the key factors determining weed populations in a region, but herbicide practices play a major role in shaping the weed community in each field.
Christian Willenborg of the University of Saskatchewan led a three-year study in collaboration with Julia Leeson of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) in Saskatoon. The study looked at weed abundance, species distribution, community diversity and function in canola-inclusive rotations across Western Canada and their relationships with management practices, canola frequency in the crop rotation, and diversity of the crop rotation. The project combined field data from an AAFC rotation study in Alberta in 2011 and 2012, a survey of 464 Saskatchewan fields in 2012 (see Table 1), and mining of long-term weed survey data from across the Prairies.
Open the PDF to read the entire research summary from the 2013 Science Issue of Canola DigestYou can also read the 2013 Science Issue of Canola Digest as a flipbook
Visit the Canola Research Hub website to search the database of grower funded research
2013-7.5-Rotation-and-Weeds.pdf
