Overview
The Alberta Plant Health Lab (APHL) supports the Alberta Agricultural Pests Act through leading edge diagnostic and surveillance services of existing, emerging and new plant pests to Alberta. Since 2016, more than 10,000 samples have been received and tested free of charge to the groups who can submit samples.
Services offered
The APHL works with the most current technologies. APHL services include:
- diagnosis of all plant health problems caused by pathogens or insect pests such as:
- clubroot, blackleg and verticillium stripe on canola
- bacterial leaf streak on wheat and barley
- Dutch elm disease
- potato diseases
- molecular identification for plant health-related life forms:
- noxious and prohibited noxious weeds
- invasive species to Alberta or Canada
- agricultural insects
- monitoring the occurrence and prevalence of new plant pests:
- assays on plant disease survey samples
- development of new diagnostic protocols
Submit samples
Samples of plant tissue, weed specimens, insect specimens and pathogen-infected soil samples can be submitted to APHL for testing.
Who can submit samples
Groups who may submit samples include:
- Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation
- Alberta agricultural fieldmen
- applied research associations, including universities
- municipal pest management organizations
Other groups or individuals should contact us before sending samples.
- To submit a sample, complete the Alberta Plant Health Lab Sample Submission form.
Fillable PDF forms may not open properly on some mobile devices and web browsers. See the step-by-step guide or contact PDF form technical support.
Diagnosis results
Diagnosis of diseases takes about 2 weeks for results to be provided, and molecular identification takes about 1 week.
Culture requests
APHL maintains a culture collection of fungi, oomycetes, and bacteria responsible for many of the plant diseases found in Canada. Cultures are available free of charge to certified research facilities for research and diagnostic purposes.
- To request a culture, complete the Alberta Plant Health Lab Culture Request form
Contact
Connect with the Alberta Plant Health Lab:
Hours: 8 am to 3 pm (open Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays)
Email: [email protected]
Mailing address:
Alberta Plant Health Lab
Crop Diversification Centre North
17507 Fort Road NW
Edmonton, Alberta T5Y 6H3