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December 11, 2013

Canola Watch 2013 Exam

CCA Quiz 2013 answer key

NOTE: This is the 2013 exam!!

This exam period ended January 31. Feel free to use this quiz as a refresher.

Successful completion of the exam was worth 6.5 CCA credits, as follows:
Nutrient Management: 1
Soil & Water Management: 1
Integrated Pest Management: 3
Crop Management: 1.5

CCSCs also qualified for 6.5 credits.

All answers can be found in the 2013 Canola Watch reports, which are in the Archives section at www.canolawatch.org.

For questions or additional information on this exam, please contact Jay Whetter at 807-468-4006 or whetterj@canolacouncil.org.

Enter email to receive results:

CanoLAB

1. The March and April issues of Canola Watch featured highlights from CanoLABs held in Brandon, Saskatoon and Edmonton. The next 10 questions are based on CanoLAB presentations.
Based on the numbers John Heard from MAFRI used in his presentation, how much nitrogen (N) and how much sulphur (S) are required to produce one bushel of canola?

2.2 N, 0.75 S

3.2 N, 0.55 S

3.5 N, 0.45 S

4.2 N, 0.65 S

2. Canola plants need ______ to produce three key amino acids: methionine, cysteine and cystine. Without ______ to build these amino acids, nitrogen can create toxic amides in the plant that greatly inhibit seed set.

Sulphur

Potassium

Calcium

Boron

3. Phosphorus deficiency is not always easy to detect visually, but without applying replacement rates, canola yield potential will drop over time. What does Jeff Schoenau from the University of Saskatchewan call this phosphorus deficiency?

Silent killer

Benign neglect

Hidden hunger

Phos-fatalism

4. Plants with _______ deficiency will often flower longer to compensate for poor seed set, and have leaf blotches ranging from pale yellow to reddish purple. This nutrient deficiency is more likely to show up in sandy areas.

Boron

Calcium

Iron

Zinc

5. Presenters at CanoLAB in Brandon said herbicide carryover in the soil in spring 2013 could be higher than expected because of what specific condition?

Lack of rain from July to September 2012

Record snowfall

Higher than usual fall herbicide use

An increase in canola acres

6. Aster yellows is caused by a phytoplasma carried by the aster leafhopper (shown here). Most aster leafhoppers come into the Prairies on winds blowing in from what area?

The aster leafhopper (species Macrosteles quadrilineatus) has 4 distinct black lines on its head. You can see these lines with a magnifying glass.

Pacific Northwest

Ontario and Quebec

Florida panhandle

Texas and surrounding states

7. Hot days (28°C and higher) can cause canola flowers to abort. The combination of hot days and __________ can be particularly devastating.

Cool nights

Humidity

Wind

Warm nights

8. Glyphosate applied after ________ on Roundup Ready canola may result in pale petals of normal size and short stamens that don’t protrude above petals in recently opened flowers. There can be significant pod sterility and blanks as a result.

A rain

The 6-leaf stage

An insecticide spray

6 p.m.

9. A critical time to control kochia is in the pre-seed window as _______ of kochia seedlings emerge before the crop.

60%

70%

80%

90%

10. Clubroot resistant varieties are an effective tool for clubroot management. However, __________ will select for those clubroot pathotypes that are not controlled by the genetic resistance, ending the effectiveness of resistant varieties on those fields.

Excessive tillage

High seeding rates

Short rotations

Unmanaged volunteer canola

General

11. The following 40 questions are from the articles in Canola Watch from May to October.Effective pre-seed glyphosate depends on strong biological activity within the target weeds. Warm weather helps. The ideal temperatures for glyphosate efficacy are at least ________ for daytime highs and a minimum of _______ at night.

10°C, 0°C

15°C, 0°C

15°C, 5°C

20°C, 10°C

12. Saskatchewan weed specialist Clark Brenzil names two weeds that are not household names but are on the rise. What are they?

Giant ragweed and rigid ryegrass

Tall hedge mustard and hoary allysum

Horsetail and Palmer amaranth

Gorse and bellyache bush

13. University of Manitoba soil scientist Don Flaten says to place only ammonium phosphate in the canola seed row, and even then, only use a “modest” rate. What is generally considered the maximum safe rate of actual phosphate to put in the seed row?

10 lb./ac.

20 lb./ac.

30 lb./ac.

40 lb./ac.

14. Agronomists are encouraged to follow their own best management practices when it comes to clubroot. The top two clubroot BMPs for agronomists entering canola fields are:

Park on the road and wear disposable booties.

Wear rubber boots and clean them every day.

Park on the downwind side of the field and shower between fields.

Scout from the road and use bald tires.

15. Scouting is something growers can do all season long. How long after seeding does Canola Watch recommend canola crop scouting start?

A day

A week

Three weeks

A month

16. Spraying weeds early in crop can improve yields with no added cost, thus having a significant influence on profit. Research has demonstrated an advantage of _____ for controlling weeds at the 1-2 leaf stage of canola versus the 6-7 leaf stage.

1 bu./ac.

3 bu./ac.

5 bu./ac.

7 bu./ac.

17. The economic threshold for flea beetles is based on a stand of ________ plants per square foot. In thinner stands, growers may want to reduce the threshold somewhat to limit plant loss and development delays.

2-3

5-7

7-14

10-20

18. When top dressing liquid fertilizer, the ideal is to apply when leaves are moist from early dew or a light rain. Why?

This improves the rate of absorption into the leaves.

Applying when hot and dry can increase leaf burn.

Moisture reduces the corrosive nature of fertilizers on spraying equipment.

Moisture increases volatilization.

19. When tank mixing clethodim with Liberty, the order in which you add each component to the tank is important. What is the order?

Surfactant first, then Liberty, then clethodim

Clethodim first, then surfactant, then Liberty

Liberty first, then clethodim, then surfactant

Clethodim first, then Liberty, then surfactant

20. In the tutorial video called “How to use the Canola Diagnostic Tool,” what is the disease highlighted in the example?

Sclerotinia stem rot

Blackleg

Clubroot

Wirestem

21. Most cutworm larvae feed on above ground foliage. Only two common species, as outlined in the table showing lifecycles of cutworm species, are underground or “subterranean” feeders. Which one of the following cutworms is an underground feeder?

Redbacked

Dingy

Pale western

Bristly

22. Growers on the fence about whether to apply a fertilizer top-dress are encouraged to apply enough to make a noticeable difference, and then test the result. Apply the top dress to part of the field, mark the location, and compare yields between treated and untreated sections at harvest. What does Canola Watch suggest is an amount of nitrogen sufficient to make a difference?

10 lb./ac.

20 lb./ac.

30 lb./ac.

40 lb./ac.

23. Spraying glyphosate after the 6-leaf stage or at higher than label rates on Roundup Ready canola can set back yield. Monsanto research demonstrated a ____ bu./ac. yield loss as a result of spraying glyphosate on Roundup Ready canola at higher than labeled rates and at first flower.

24. The following sentence describes which seedling disease pathogen? This pathogen attacks the hypocotyl and tends to be worse when canola emergence is delayed due to cool, dry conditions.

Mycosphaerella

Pythium

Fusarium

Rhizoctonia

25. Canola can recover from early season hail. Even in severe cases that cause individual seedlings to die, a whole canola crop is fairly resilient to early season hail when it comes to overall yield potential. An average stand can be reduced to fewer than ___ plants per square metre before yield losses exceed 10%.

26. Aerial herbicide application is an option if the application window is closing and the ground is too soft for a ground rig. One downside to aerial application is that buffer zone requirements are significantly higher for air versus ground application. For Liberty, for example, the buffer zone for aerial application is ___ from non-target plants and animals compared to a buffer of only ___ for ground application

30 metres for air, 1 metre for ground

30 metres for air, 10 metres for ground

100 metres for air, 10 metres for ground

100 metres for air, 30 metres for ground

27. When scouting for cutworms, you are more likely to find them by:

Digging around healthy plants next to recently clipped or removed plants.

Digging in the middle of bare patches.

Using bait balls.

Using pheromone traps to lure them out of the soil.

28. In Canada, 80% of the honey comes from canola flowers. And although napus canola is self-pollinating, studies show that the extra level of pollination that bees and other pollinators provide can increase yields by up to ____.

10%

15%

20%

29. To protect bees and other pollinators, do not spray insecticides on a crop in flower. If spraying a crop in flower is necessary, when is the best time to spray in order to avoid contact with bees?

Before noon

Any time between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

After 8 p.m.

On weekends

30. The best way to manage clubroot is to identify the disease early and stick to management steps that are known to be effective. Only one of the following is an effective management step. The others are not practical or effective. Which is it?

Apply foliar fungicide.

Use boron fertilizer.

Seed a resistant variety.

Till the soil.

31. The nominal threshold for diamondback moth larvae is 20 to 30 per square foot of crop, or about two or three larvae per plant if plant population is close to 10 per square foot. The key is timing. At what stage are diamondback moth larvae most damaging, which is the stage when control is most likely to pay off?

Seedling to rosette

Flowering

Early pod stage

Advanced pod stage

32. Cabbage seedpod weevils overwinter as adults in field margins. However, early spring spraying is not recommended because the goal with a spray is to ________________.

Stop adults from eating newly formed pods.

Stop adults form laying eggs in newly formed pods.

Seal newly formed pods so adults can’t lay eggs in them.

Control eggs immediately after they’re deposited.

33. The nominal threshold for cabbage seedpod weevil is 20 adults per 10 sweeps. If counts are above threshold, the best time to spray is __________________.

At the bud stage

At 10-20% flower

At 30-50% flower

When all pods are formed

34. Canola Watch quoted Lloyd Dosdall, an entomologist with the University of Alberta, talking about results from a rotation study. Dosdall said, “The data show very clearly that with continuous canola, there is a statistically significant increase in crop damage by ________ , and this coincides with reduced yields.” What insect is he talking about?

Flea beetles

Cutworms

Root maggot

Bertha armyworm

35. The nominal threshold for grasshoppers is 8-12 per square metre. If grasshoppers require spraying, warm days are better than hot days for insecticide efficacy on grasshoppers. Why?

Grasshoppers are low in the canopy and inactive on hot days.

Beneficials that attack grasshoppers are most active on hot days.

Grasshoppers metabolize the insecticide too quickly on hot days.

Grasshopper insecticides evaporate too quickly on hot days.

36. One way to estimate whether a canola crop is at 50% flower is to count the number of open flowers (which includes aborted flowers and developing pods). How many open flowers on the main stem is generally considered to coincide with 50% flower?

37. Each crop protection product has its own pre-harvest interval (PHI) for canola. When spraying, it is important to adhere to the PHI to ensure that no unacceptable levels of chemical residue will be found in harvested seed. What is the PHI?

The time that must lapse (in days) after a pesticide application before the crop is put in the bin.

The time that must lapse (in days) after a pesticide application before the crop is cut.

The number of days a pesticide is effective after application.

The typical number of days between flowering and harvest in your region.

38. The ideal swath timing is when 60% of seeds on the main stem are showing colour change. Colour change is considered ___________?

Fully brown or black seed.

Any amount of yellowing or browning on the seed.

When seed no longer has any green showing.

When seed has dropped below 30% moisture.

39. An article on tips to lower straight combining risk noted that planning to straight combine starts at seeding. What are three seeding time decisions that can help reduce losses in a straight-combined canola crop?

Seeding rate, variety, fertilizer rate

Seeding date, variety, fertilizer placement

Seeding rate, seeding depth, seeding speed

Seeding date, seed row width, seed-fertilizer separation

40. When measuring canola losses out the back of the combine, calculating the concentration factor will provide a more accurate assessment of loss. What is the concentration factor?

How hard you have to think in order to do the calculations.

The ratio of sieve spacing to air speed.

The ratio of header width to combine discharge width.

The ratio of cylinder speed to concave setting.

41. By taking harvest plant counts over a number of fields and years, canola growers can get a clear idea how plant count influences yield. This information can help them set seeding rates. Counting plants again at harvest is important to this calculation because the number of plants per square foot often drops by _________ between post emergence and harvest.

5-10%

10-15%

15-20%

20-25%

42. Canola needs some time cure between swathing and combining, but curing doesn’t have to be a specific length of time. As long as _________________, growers are encouraged to start combining.

Moisture is below 10% and green is below 5%

Moisture is below 8% and green is below 5%

Moisture is below 12% and green is below 2%

Moisture is below 10% and green is below 2%

43. Canola that has dried down but still has a high green count will need its seed moisture levels to get back above _______ with temperatures remaining at 15°C or warmer for chlorophyll-clearing enzymes to restart and produce significant curing. Several days of heavy dew, high humidity and additional rain events may be required.

10%

15%

20%

25%

44. Cleavers seem to be getting worse in some fields, and can be a particular problem for canola grading. Cleaver seeds in a canola sample are graded as “conspicuous admixture.” The limit for total conspicuous admixture for No.1 canola is ___________.

0.1%

45. Fall is a good time to take soil samples. Fall samples can provide a close approximation of soil nutrient levels in the spring as long as fall samples are taken when soil temperatures have cooled to below _____.

0°C

7°C

10°C

14°C

46. One type of soil sampling method involves separating a field into distinct management units based on soil type, topography, and/or yield map history. Management units are sampled separately, resulting in 3 to 5 soil samples from the field. What is this sampling method called?

Random sampling

Benchmark sampling

Grid sampling

Smart sampling

47. ________________________ are often seed placed with canola, and yet growers cannot usually safely apply seed-placed rates that are high enough to meet the nutrient needs of canola. One solution is to apply these two nutrients during the cereal part of the rotation. This will maintain baseline levels so seed-placed rates for canola can stay within safe levels the next time canola is produced on that field.

Boron and zinc

Potassium and sulphur

Phosphorus and potassium

Phosphorus and sulphur

48. A risk with fall application of nitrogen fertilizer is that denitrification and leaching will remove a large percentage of the applied fertilizer before seeding starts in the spring. The best soils for fall banding, in terms of lower risk for losses, are ________________________.

Well drained with adequate moisture reserves.

Well drained and on the drier side.

Rich, moist and less likely to support fertilizer application traffic in early spring.

Those with a low level of reserve nutrients.

49. Growers who apply elemental sulphur in fall are encouraged to continue this practice on a regular basis as part of their sulphur fertilizer program. Why?

It builds up the oxidizing bacterial population.

Regular use makes it much easier to source an adequate supply.

It provides a sustainable source of sulphur.

The pastilles absorb moisture, providing a moisture source all season long.

50. Sulphur deficiencies are possible in any region, especially on fields with frequent canola rotations, but _________________ tend to be the most responsive to sulphur fertilizer.

Grey wooded soils

Black soils

Dark Brown soils

Brown soils

Insect management thresholds

51. In February 2013, Canola Watch ran a comprehensive article on insect management thresholds. The next five questions are from that article.Insect management thresholds provide an approximate estimate of what?

The point at which an insecticide spray will provide enough yield benefit to just cover its cost.

The point at which an insecticide spray will provide a 2:1 return.

The peak population of a particular insect for that year.

The insect population needed to cause 1 bu./ac. of damage, based on historical data.

52. Most thresholds used to manage insects in canola are “nominal” thresholds. Experienced entomologists set nominal thresholds based on practical experience. Only two canola pests have thresholds based on peer-reviewed research. What are they?

Cabbage seedpod weevil and flea beetles

Flea beetles and cutworms

Cutworms and lygus

Lygus and bertha armyworm

53. Lygus thresholds are based on sweep net counts. If canola is $12 per bushel and spray is $8 per acre, the threshold at the late pod stage is ____ lygus per 10 sweeps.

54. Proper sweep netting technique is required in order for lygus thresholds to be effective. What is a key component of proper sweep net technique?

Stand firmly in one place while sweeping.

Use a sweep net with an opening size and handle length that match the user’s height and strength.

Walk while sweeping, and take 180° sweeps through the top part of the plant.

Sweep in the evenings when insects aren’t flying around as much.

55. Thresholds are only one factor in the spray decision. Even if numbers are above the thresholds, spraying may not provide a return on investment if?

Insects are eating only the buds.

The crop has high yield potential.

Insects are slowing down and no longer feeding.

Insects are a mix of sizes.

Quiz review

56. Every week during the growing season, Canola Watch featured a photo quiz. The following 10 questions are based on those photos. You will often need to take the quiz to find the answer, which is given at the end of each quiz.These rows of canola plants are planted into soil from the same field. The dark soil is from a rich low-lying area. The light soil is from an eroded knoll with low organic matter. Each row has a different treatment, with row 1 (farthest to the left) the control. Treatments in the rich soil look about the same, while treatments on the eroded knolls get worst as you move to the right. What are the test treatments that caused these effects?

Blackleg

Cutworms

Herbicide carryover

Seed-placed fertilizer

57. A grower applied a pre-seed burnoff to a field in southwest Saskatchewan. A week later, he checked the field and found these healthy weeds in a line in one corner of the field. What is this weed?

Hemp nettle

Kochia

Sow thistle

Tall hedge mustard

58. Both of the young canola plants in this photo are pinched along the stem. What caused the pinch on the left, and what caused the pinch on the right?

Left flea beetle, Right frost

Left pythium, Right cutworm

Left frost, Right flea beetle

Left frost, Right rhizoctonia

59. Here are two views of the same insect. What is it?

Cabbage seedpod weevil

Pea leaf weevil

Banchus wasp

Swede midge

60. What caused this damage?

Rhizoctonia foot rot

Blackleg

Root maggots

Wireworms

61. Some diseases look alike. What caused the lesions on these two canola leaves?

Left alternaria, Right sclerotinia stem rot

Left blackleg, Right downy mildew

Left sclerotinia stem rot, Right blackleg

Left downy mildew, Right alternaria

62. Swathing is a good time to look for diseases. Sometimes you can identify a disease from the stem damage. What diseases, from left to right, caused the stems to look like this?

Grey stem, blackleg, sclerotinia stem rot

Alternaria black spot, clubroot, blackleg

Blackleg, sclerotinia stem rot, brown girdling root rot

Blackleg, clubroot, sclerotinia stem rot

63. This worm prefers to eat cleavers. What is it?

Hawk moth larva

Zebra caterpillar

Luna moth larva

Cecropia moth larva

64. What has infected this pod?

Staghead (Albugo candida)

Alternaria pod spot (Alternaria brassicae)

Sooty mold (Alternaria and other spp.)

Blackleg (Leptosphaeria maculans)

65. What is this weed?

Quackgrass

Barnyard grass

Green foxtail

Foxtail barley

Sclerotinia stem rot

66. In January 2013, Canola Watch ran a comprehensive article on Sclerotinia stem rot management. The first five questions are from that article.

Sclerotinia apothecia tend to be more common in moist conditions. These tiny mushroom shoot up spores that land on canola petals. Source: Faye Dokken-Bouchard, Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture

This is an apothecia, a tiny golf-tee shaped mushroom that grows from Sclerotinia sclerotiorum sclerotia in the soil. Apothecia germinate after warm summer rains. After a rain, how many days does it take for apothecia to mature and release ascospores into the canopy?

3-4

7-10

10-12

14-21

67. Ascospores cannot infect canola plants directly. What gives them the energy to produce the hyphae that release oxalic acid and other infection agents the fungus needs to invade healthy plant tissue?

Water droplets from dew or rain

Pollen from canola flowers

Sunlight

Decaying tissue such as flower petals

68. What is the key risk factor for sclerotinia stem rot? Without this factor, disease levels will be much lower.

Moisture

Warm temperatures

Leafy varieties that produce a dense canopy

Canola growing on canola stubble

69. Fungicide application can significantly reduce yield losses from sclerotinia stem rot as long as the key risk factor in question 7 is present, and as long as fungicide is applied at the right time. What is the ideal time to spray?

Before flowering starts (0% flower)

As soon as the first flower appears (0-10% flower)

When the first petals start to drop (20-30% flower)

When lesions start to appear on leaves and stems (after flowering)

70. Scouting for sclerotinia stem rot infection before or during swathing is a good time to assess disease severity. This assessment will help with management decisions in following years. What are typical symptoms of sclerotinia stem rot infection?

Stems are thickened and woody, and black inside.

Stems are white and shred easily. Black pellets like “mouse droppings” can be found inside stems.

Pods are grossly malformed and often empty.

Roots are rotten and stems often break off at ground level.