Ontario Grain Farmer February 2023

suppressFusarium," he says, adding that he and others in the past have been looking at the seeds, at the soil and a number of different places, but not in corn silks. In 2020, his team examined the silk microbiome and reported that there are hundreds of species of bacteria in corn silk. When they challenged the silk with Fusarium, there were about 12 to 17microbes that went up in numbers. "That was a real aha moment — they were the ones we wanted to focus on," he says. In parallel, they cultured out bacteria from corn, selected the ones that were increasing in numbers with exposure to Fusarium and started testing. Beginning with Petri dishes, the team moved to greenhouse trials, measuring yield and mycotoxins, and finally, they went to field trials. "We isolated 1,300 bacteria from Canadian corn and another 300 from wild corn — some of which had been around for thousands of years — from across the Americas," he says. He adds that they only used the safest bacteria from a human health perspective. Using the same methods, they approached the problem in wheat. There, the Fusarium spreads through the central grain stem of the wheat head — or the rachis. Currently, the testing for both crops is at different stages of completion. The wideranging project was started in 2017 and comprises a large team, including collaborators Dr. Victor Limay Rios of the Ridgetown campus and Dr. Lana Reid from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Other researchers included post-doctoral fellow Dr. Eman Khalaf, Ph.D. student Michelle Thompson, MSc student Jake Gregory, Ph.D. student Anuja Shrestha, and MSc student Jade Muileboom. "Overall, we can say that the best microbes are reducing DON mycotoxin by 90 per cent," Raizada says, pointing out that the testswere carried out under severe Fusarium pressure — like in the fall of 2018. Some of the microbes were attacking other mycotoxins, as well. Many of the microbes tested are reducing DON mycotoxin by at least 50 per cent. "Where possible, we used microbes that form spores because they can be delivered to farmers in a powder form," he says. They also used microbes that don't form spores and have to be refrigerated. In addition to the microbes in silks, Raizada's team found that there are microbes in the pollen that fertilizes the corn plant. "The microbes are coming from both silk and pollen," he says, noting that the process of fertilization is what brings Fusariuminto the plant in the first place. At the time of writing, the teamwas awaiting mycotoxin data from the 2022 crop. "What we've found over the years, there's a certain amount of inconsistency in microbes, so that's why, with further funding, we may be able to breed the microbes with the plants to improve field-level stability," he says. The team is also testing to ensure that fungicides do not adversely affect the bacterial microbes so they can be sprayed together in an integrated pest management program. "Right now, our goal is that reduction in fungicide use, which we think is reachable," he says. The projects were funded by Grain Farmers of Ontario, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AgricScience Clusters Program through the Organic Science Cluster), Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Ontario Trillium Scholarship, Ontario Genomics SPARK, and Syngenta. l ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER 25 FEBRUARY 2023 These research projects received funding from Grain Farmers of Ontario. KEEPING FAITH IN FARMING www.christianfarmers.org ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT FERTILIZER PRICES? For assistance, contact: info@christianfarmers.org or 1-855-800-0306. The CFFO is the only Accredited FarmOrganization to sign against the 35% Russian fertilizer tariff. CFFO has been supporting farmers from the beginning, advocating for tariff refunds. Register by March 1, 2023 at: www.agricorp.com/FBR Choose CFFO as YOUR farm business’ Accredited Farm Organization! CHRISTIAN FARMERS Federation Of Ontario CFFO

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