As in 2012, bleached, white heads are showing up again in some cereal crops in southern Manitoba this summer.
Pam de Rocquigny, cereal specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, says she has fielded a number of calls from growers and agronomists about heads dying off early, particularly in spring and winter wheat.
"There are a couple factors that could be causing this," she notes. "It could be wheat stem maggot, which will cause the whole head to turn white with hardly any kernels formed. A really easy way to test if it is wheat stem maggot is to try to pull the head out of the stem. If it pulls out quite easily, it's because the larva has severed the stem."
With the wet conditions in much of the province, she says root rot could also be the culprit.
"In that case, if you pull near the bottom of the plant, they'll usually come free of the soil quite easily because the root system has been compromised," says de Rocquigny.
Fusarium head blight is often the first cause that comes to mind for growers.
"Usually you'll see some pink or orange mycelium at the base of the glumes. It can infect an entire head but often we'll see just partial heads infected," she explains.
Aster yellows and environmental stress like heat and wind can also lead to empty white heads, says de Rocquigny.
She notes there's nothing producers can do about any of these factors, other than assess the crop to determine if something different could be done for next year, such as choosing a variety with more disease resistance.
Source: PortageOnline