A tiny, difficult to identify crop pest is doing damage in Montana wheat and barley fields, and that’s a little to close for comfort in Alberta.
The cereal cyst nematode attaches to the roots of cereals, stunting plant growth. There are no effective control measures other than rotation with a non-host crop.
Michael Harding, plant pathologist with Alberta Agriculture in Brooks, Alta., said the nematode has not been found in Alberta.
“The fact that it’s been found in Montana now means that we have to be on the lookout for it,” he said.
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“I’m not aware that it has ever been reported on the Prairies.”
Marry Burrows, extension plant pathology specialist at Montana State University, said she wouldn’t be surprised if the pest has found its way into Alberta via soil, its only method of transport.
“It’s very possible that it’s there,” she said. “You probably have a cyst nematode problem for 30 years before you see it.”
Cereal cyst nematodes are very small and can only be identified by the presence of white females that inhabit roots when the cereals are flowering. They detach easily when roots are disturbed, so it takes some care and expertise to see and identify them.
Symptoms of infection in the crop are similar to some root rots, which compounds the problem of accurate identification.
“We’re having quite a problem with it this year,” said Burrows.
“I think we’ve been misdiagnosing this particular field that initiated the alert for awhile because it’s kind of a narrow window when you can find the cysts.”
Infection is shown through a slow, unexplained decline in the crop. Plants will become stunted and yellow, and the roots are stubby and underdeveloped when plants are pulled.
An alert issued last year in Montana by Alan Dyer, another Montana State crop pathologist, said the cysts are only visible to the naked eye around the time of early grain fill. They fall off at crop maturity and are then almost impossible to find.
