No products are registered for control and ergot resistant wheat varieties are not on the horizon
Ergot is creating larger financial losses than ever on western Canadian farms. Jim Menzies, a phytopathologist with Agriculture Canada, said the fungal disease, which infects rye, wheat and other cereal crops, has been showing up more frequently during the past 15 years in mainstream crops such as spring wheat and durum. As the disease’s prominence […] Read moreTag Archives Disease
Sickening statistics
A review written 10 years ago by Merle Olson of the University of Calgary’s faculty of biology estimated that 1,415 infectious organisms are known to cause disease in humans and 616 pathogens cause disease in livestock. One-third of the livestock pathogens are zoonotic, which means they can transmit disease between animals and humans. The diseases […] Read more
Virus survival time unknown factor in risk assessment
OMAHA, Neb. — U.S. officials admit they were not prepared for the devastation of porcine endemic diarrhea, which has killed millions of baby pigs since last May. Several viruses are circulating, and how they got to North America is a puzzle. “We don’t know how they got into the country, but we do know these […] Read more
Vaccines keep rabies at bay
We don’t hear much about rabies, but it’s scary when we do. The disease can be passed to humans with no curative treatment once clinical signs develop. It is virtually always fatal to mammals. Only vaccination and strong surveillance programs have kept rabies at a low incidence in Canada. Bats, skunks, raccoons and red and […] Read more
Foot-and-mouth disease is a threat
Planning for the worst | With outbreaks around the world, North America is lucky to be free of FMD, says USDA official
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The World Organization of Animal Health received 119 reports of foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks last year. “FMD is out there and it is really rather amazing that we have not had it for so long in our country or on the North American continent,” said Jon Zack, director of veterinary services with the […] Read more
Costs of outbreaks are high
Serious ramifications | Foot-and-mouth disease an ‘economic shock’
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Many countries have high level biosecurity and top notch veterinary services, but they can still get foot-and-mouth disease. The United States was warned in 2001 that it would have the disease within five years. It didn’t happen, but the risk remains that a serious foreign animal disease could enter the country, either […] Read more
Fusarium takes toll on seed
Yields cut by nearly half | Concerns rise over spread of disease through cleaned pedigreed seed
Fusarium graminearum took a huge bite out of pedigreed seed supplies in 2012, particularly in Saskatchewan where some seed growers harvested unusually small crops that were heavily infected with the disease. Fusarium cut grain yields by as much as 50 percent in some parts of the province, and the proportion of fusarium damaged kernels (FDK) […] Read moreLate blight hits spuds
Manitoba’s first case of late blight in 2012 has been found in a commercial potato field near Carberry. Manitoba Agriculture announced late last week that the affected parts of the field have been disked under. As well, growers have applied the appropriate fungicides to the remainder of the field and nearby potato crops. The risk […] Read more
Pea, canola growers advised to scout fields for disease
ST. ALBERT, Alberta — When crop disease specialist Robyne Bowness stood in front of a perfect pea crop to discuss pea crop disease, she was a little embarrassed. She looked at all the plots, searching for signs of disease to show those attending the crop walk at the University of Alberta farm north of Edmonton, […] Read more
Mysterious blackleg affecting Manitoba fields
Two Manitoba canola fields have been destroyed by what is likely a resistant race of blackleg. Earlier this month, Manitoba Agriculture staff detected blackleg on the stems of canola plants on two fields. However, oilseed and plant disease specialists with the government aren’t disclosing the location of those fields or the canola variety that is […] Read more
