In the last couple of years producers have started experiencing a problem with Fusarium Head Blight showing up in Durum.
Randy Kutcher is a Plant Disease Specialist at the University of Saskatchewan’s Plant Sciences Department. He says it’s a combination of the weather we’ve had in the last 5 years and the fact the pathogen is air-borne so those spores move.
"Last year I don't think was too bad but 2014 was really terrible especially for a lot of the durum growers who I don't think had experienced the full force of fusarium. I heard of samples that were twenty or thirty percent FDK fusarium damaged kernels so its just totally unsaleable."
He notes despite the work being done to improve the disease resistance in durum, as yet we still don’t see highly resistant varieties.
Kutcher has some tips to try and help producers avoid a problem as much as they can.
Source : Discoverestevan