News
New corn disease “not too much cause for concern”
The impact of the newly identified corn disease in the U.S. cannot yet be estimated. Bacterial Leaf Streak, which originated in South Africa has been confirmed in several states including Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado.
“Because it’s so new we don’t have any idea on how it’s going to impact yields and quality of the grain. We’re learning. There’s a lot of research going on but at the moment we don’t think there’s too much cause for concern,” says Alison Robertson, Iowa State University Extension plant pathologist. She spoke with Brownfield Ag News at the 2016 Farm Progress Show – saying foliar fungicides won’t control it.
She says there ARE things growers can do to try and prevent it, “What we suspect is that the bacteria survives in corn residue and so the management practices that we would recommend would be rotation to a non-host crop such as soybean.”
Robertson recommends growers look at seed demonstration plots in their areas to see what hybrids have been affected.
Brownfield’s Ken Anderson interviews Alison Robertson at the 2016 Farm Progress Show:
Add Comment