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Wheat Growers Benefit from Integrated Approach |
In Kansas, the cost of crop losses due to wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV) averages 2 percent per year, or roughly $20 million. The losses can exceed 10 percent in severe years and can reach 100 percent in individual fields.
Volunteer, or self-sown, wheat is the major carrier of WSMV. In the fall, wheat curl mites take the virus from volunteer wheat to early-planted fields of wheat.
Photo: volunteer wheat in stubble provides a reservoir of wheat streak mosaic virus.
Started in 1989, the "Be A Good Neighbor" program encourages community cooperation in minimizing volunteer wheat. The use of special tillage equipment is encouraged because it leaves crop residue, reducing soil erosion and conserving soil moisture. Growers are also encouraged to delay planting dates and to use cultivars or wheat curl mites with genetic resistance to WSMV. As a result of the program, county extension agents report growers have improved control of volunteer wheat. The percent of acres in western Kansas with varieties resistant to WSMV have increased from 9.7 percent in 1988 to 49.4 percent today.
Wheat streak mosaic losses have been reduced from an average of 4.3 percent (1985-89) to 1.4 percent (1990-94). The destruction of volunteer wheat and delayed planting dates have assisted with other wheat problems such as Hessian fly, Russian wheat aphid, and barley yellow-dwarf virus.
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[Integrated Pest Management in the North Central States] |
[National Integrated Pest Management Network] |