2004 Season Review: Agronomic Crop Diseases

Greg Shaner, Professor, Botany & Plant Pathology, Purdue University

Fusarium head blight of wheat was widespread in Indiana. The week before wheat flowered was dry, but wet weather commenced about the time flowering began, early enough for symptom development and production of deoxynivalenol in grain.

Some widely grown corn hybrids proved to be susceptible to northern corn leaf blight, and the disease caused premature defoliation wherever these hybrids were grown. Gray leaf spot developed late and was not severe.