Scouting is important to control wheat diseases
LANCASTER - In the Nor
theast, wheat growers are learning
how to diagnose early symptoms
and treat for crop diseases before
their fields can fall victim to in
fections of powdery mildew and
rust diseases. And, in the process,
are protecting themselves against
potentially disastrous yield losses.
With the recent introduction of
new fungicides, scientists have
found that many wheat diseases
can be quickly brought under
control before serious crop injury
results. However, early control is
possible only if growers learn to
recognize and identify symptoms
of these diseases at the earliest
stages of development.
Scouting mildew
Powdery mildew is typically the
first such disease to appear early
in the season. The disease can
overwinter on straw and stubble
trash under moderate Winter
temperatures. While powdery
Rust disease in wheat often show up as orange or brown
colored pustules on lower, older crop foliage.
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mildew does not thrive during
rainy weather, mildew develop
ment is optimum at temperatures
between 59 and 72 degrees F., and
when relative humidity is between
85% and 100%.
The first symptoms of powdery
mildew appear as a light yellow
flecking or speckling on the lower
leaves and stems of young wheat
plants. Within a few days, these
infection sites produce the more
familiar patches of white, powdery
or cottony strands on lower stems
and foliage. As the disease
progresses, these white pustules
can spread to the upper plant
leaves, and colonized leaves soon
turn yeHow and die.
Since the earliest indications of
powdery mildew are not readily
apparent, growers should closely
‘scout’ their fields when climatic
conditions are most conducive to
the disease. Ken Noegel, Fungicide
Research Manager at Mobay
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Chemical Corporation, suggests
that once temperatures have risen
above freezing, and the plants are
actively growing, farmers should
begin regularly scouting their
crops, entering the fields at
scattered locations to closely
examine the lower leaves and
stems for evidence of yellow
specks or white mildew colonies.
During the active growth stage
of the disease, powdery mildew
can move up the plant to even
tually infect the flag leaf and even
the gram head. Powdery mildew
cannot withstand hot weather,
however, and will eventually begin
to ‘bum out’ when temperatures
exceed about 86 degrees F.
The major rust diseases in U.S.
wheat fields are stem, leaf and
stripe rust. While rusts can also
overwinter under especially
moderate Winter temperatures,
they tend to appear later in the
season than powedery mildew.
Rust infections are prompted by
warm, rainy weather, when
temperatures reach 60 degrees F.
or higher.
A grower’s best chance of
identifying these diseases in the
early stages of development is to
go into the field and closely
examine both the bottom and top
surfaces of the lower plant leaves,
leaf sheaths and stems. “For stem
and leaf rust, the first symptom of
infection is generally the ap
pearance of orange or brown
colored pustules on the lower,
older leaves,” Noegel explains.
“Stripe rust, on the other hand,
appears as conspicuous, narrow
yellow stripes on the leaves, and
occasionally on the grain heads.”
Fast spread
Left uncontrolled, serious in-
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3 forms of rust
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feclions of powdery mildew or rust
diseases can wreak havoc on a
wheat field under ideal climatic
conditions. Even in the early
stages of development, powdery
mildew can result in leaf and
nutrient loss, rendering the plant
vulnerable to weather extremes
and delaying grain development.
As the disease worsens, the fungus
can girdle the wheat stems,
weakening them until the plants
lodge or lose their ability to
transport nutrients from the root
system to the leaves and gram
head.
A rust pathogen quickly destroys
those areas of plant tissue on which
it grows. Leaf areas colonized by
stripe rust begin to shrivel, turn
brown, and produce lengthwise
slits in the leaves. Stem and leaf
rust move up the plant to reach the
flag leaf, and can greatly reduce
the wheat plant’s ability to set and
fill the gram head
\
Powdery mildew first appears on wheat as a light yellow
flecking on lower plant stems and leaves and later matures
into patches of white, cottony strands.
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Last year, wheat growers
acquired a new fungicide with
which they could control powdery
mildew and rust diseases before
they could inflict economic
damage to their crops. Bayleton
systemic fungicide, the first off
spring of a new ‘family’ of
fungicides called sterol inhibitors,
demonstrated control of these
diseases.
Unlike the familiar contact
which growers had
been required to apply in an
ticipation of a disease outbreak,
Bayleton fungicide can be applied
after the first disease symptoms
appear, and still destroy the spores
that have already developed.
Researchers are finding that tnis
unique ‘kickback’ activity is
particularly useful under intensive
wheat production systems. That is,
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The economic eolation.
iruary 4,1984—D1l
New fungicides
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