New corn disease discovered in the United States

Aug 30, 2016

Bacterial leaf streak found in Illinois and Iowa

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

Researchers from the University of Illinois discovered a new corn disease in a field in DeKalb County.

Bacterial leaf streak, a disease that can make kernels weigh less, has also been found in Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas and Nebraska.

Little is known about how damaging the disease is or how to treat it.

According to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, symptoms of bacterial leaf streak can appear similar to gray leaf spot.

Symptoms include brown to yellow streaks between leaf veins, lesions on older leaves, and yellow discoloration.

Foliar fungicides used to treat gray leaf spot may not work on bacterial leaf streak.

"There's a chance for having the disease because it's present in the residue," John Hennenfent, owner of Munson Hybrids in Galesburg, Illinois, told WQAD.

University of Illinois Extension educator Angie Peltier said everyone needs to be extra diligent when scouting their fields.

"It may be one thing we don't see every year," Hennenfent told WQAD. "We'll have to really kind of hone our senses as we're out in the fields."

“We’re all going to be in a learning mode for the next year or two,” she said.

Farmers who believe they may have bacterial leaf streak in their fields are encouraged to contact the University of Illinois Plant Clinic or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.