Research Interests:

Fusarium: DONcast is a model developed and released to forecast deoxynivalenol in wheat for Ontario, the first published for any mycotoxin in the world, and currently the only one that is commercially used and sustained DONcast has resulted in two consulting opportunities with the FAO, one in Uruguay, and one in Iran. DONcast has been in use extensively by Ontario wheat producers since the year 2000 and is delivered by the Weather Innovations Incorporated. It is used as a tool to decide whether to spray a fungicide or not, and also to forecast grain quality before harvest for wheat marketing and health regulatory purposes.

Fungicide and insecticide fungicide application technology: We have become international leaders in developing application techniques to optimize the effectiveness of fungicides for fusarium head blight control in wheat. This work has resulted in well-defined recommendations for producers to optimize these applications and is recognized world wide.

Fusarium: breeding for resistance: We have developed a systems approach to pyramiding genes for resistance to Fusarium head blight in wheat, by combining dihaploidy, molecular marker assisted selection, and in vitro and in vivo selection. We have combined two different sources of resistance (Sumai and Frontana) to Fusarium head blight, into one breeding line. This line (RCAT 33) has been in the top of the heap for resistance to Fusarium head Blight in uniform Fusarium tests for winter wheat lines in the Great Lakes region of North America for the past several years. This line has been released in Crop Science as a parent line and we have sent seed to several breeders around the world.

Mycotoxin assays: We have embarked on a pilot study to validate and develop a protocol to assay deoxynivalenol in wheat grain as a replacement to the Fusarium damaged kernel grading system that is currently used and regulated by the Canada Grain Commission. A similar project was also initiated to develop and validate a testing protocol for dried distiller's grains that by-products of the ethanol industry.

European Chafer in corn and wheat: This insect emerged as a new pest of corn and wheat in Ontario, about six years ago. Since that time, we have developed a damage threshold, a sequential sampling plan and a control strategy for corn and wheat.

Insecticides, fungicides and transgenic Bt in Field crops: We continue to conduct a significant program for developing uses for new insecticides and fungicides in collaboration with the pesticide industry, and the major grower groups for soybeans, corn and wheat. Our program was instrumental in the registration of tebuconazole for Fusarium management in wheat, across Canada, clothianidin as a seed treatment for numerous seedling pests in field corn, methanoxam as a seed treatment for pests in corn, soybeans and edible beans and cyhalothrin-lambda for the control of soybean aphid. Our program has been instrumental in the stewardship of transgenic BT corn to manage a variety of pests in Ontario.