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Bacterial leaf streak confirmed on corn in Nebraska

Bacterial leaf streak has been confirmed on corn in 74 Nebraska counties. The disease is sometimes confused with fungal gray leaf spot, according to Sarah Sivits, extension educator for the University of Nebraska.

“One key characteristic is if you were to take that leaf off and hold it up to the sun, so use the sun as a backlight,” Sivits told Brownfield Ag News Wednesday, “it’ll have a really distinct yellow halo around it and you should be able to see the irregularity within those margins.”

Bacterial leaf streak can be treated with copper-based bactericides but there are questions about cost effectiveness, said Sivits.

“The one thing that keeps coming up continuously on those copper-based products and those bactericides is that they can be expensive in the sense that you have to do multiple applications,” said Sivits, who is based at Lexington, Nebraska.

Sivits says there’s not enough data about yield loss and the biggest issue is aesthetic.