Agroforum: due to the mild winter, fungal infection threatens the wheat and barley stocks

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It was written on the agricultural portal: early plant protection treatment has already been carried out in many areas where it would have been neglected until now, it will be worthwhile to carry out it there as well when the warming starts, because fungal diseases are widespread in rye grains.

One of the fungal diseases that appears almost every year is powdery mildew

This occurs regularly in barley and wheat fields, the current situation is made worse by the fact that due to the mild weather, an extremely strong infection developed already in the autumn, which has not caused such a massive disease for many years. As a result of the infection, the lower leaves of the cereal plants turn yellow, die and will soon turn brown or dry out, the portal informs. They added: in addition to minor rains, stronger dew formation at night and in the morning can also be sufficient for the outbreak of an epidemic.

The other problem-causing plant disease, septoria leaf spot, which affects winter wheat, rarely poses a serious threat.

However, the possibility of an epidemic cannot be ruled out, because the first symptoms of the infection appeared on the leaves already in mid-January: massive leaf drying, the loss of the lower leaves and the appearance of small, black dots on the infected leaves. A temperature between 15-20 degrees Celsius is favorable for the pathogen, and according to weather forecasts, the daily maximum values are expected to be in this range in the coming weeks, which, combined with a moist environment, helps the spread of the infection.

MTI