National Survey On Wheat And Barley Fusarium Head Blight
DR. DON HERSHMAN
PRINCETON, KY.
This spring, about 16,500 wheat and barley growers in 17 states will receive a questionnaire on Fusarium head blight (FHB or head scab) from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). FHB is a fungal disease that infects the heads of small grain plants. It can be severely damaging almost anywhere in the U.S. where there is wet, mild weather before flowering or as the crop flowers. Some Kentucky wheat fields are damaged by FHB every year and significant outbreaks occur about one year in five.
The FHB survey is being carried out on behalf of the U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative (USWBSI). The USWBSI is made up of stakeholders in the cereal industry: growers, fungicide companies, millers, brewers, feed producers, scientists, and Extension workers. Its mission is to help reduce economic losses due to yield damage and vomitoxin (i.e., DON) caused by the FHB fungus, Fusarium graminearum. The USWBSI provides science-based information on the best FHB management practices.
The survey is key to helping the USWBSI understand how widely FHB management practices are currently understood and applied by growers. Knowing more about the barriers to FHB management will help the USWBSI provide better support to growers and crop advisors in reducing losses. Survey data will also help to direct future research and outreach efforts.
“We hope growers who receive the questionnaire will take a little time to respond,” said Art Brandli, co-chair of the USWBSI and a small-grain grower in Minnesota. “Their information will be a big contribution to helping us fight this damaging disease more effectively, both in their state and at the national level.” (Article adapted from a press release)∆
DR. DON HERSHMAN: Extension Plant Pathologist, University of Kentucky