March 2, 2005

US Arkansas wheat develops leaf diseases early

A mild winter so far this year has allowed both leaf and stripe rust diseases to survive over the winter and turn active early in southern Arkansas soft red winter wheat fields, an Arkansas plant pathologist states.

A freeze would still be able to help kill off the leaf rust, but plants are quickly going to be more sensitive to cold temperatures as time passes. Plants will become more susceptible to the cold in late March and early April, Gene Milus, plant pathologist for the University of Arkansas told Dow Jones.

Normally, Arkansas wheat producers don't have to spray for rust until the middle of April, but this year two applications may need to be applied because of the early infection, said Milus. Several fungicides are available to producers that are highly effective, he adds.

There are also some concerns that the early outbreak in Arkansas will send rust spores northward earlier than usual.

Arkansas' early rust problems are only seen adding to the state's wheat woes after an overly wet fall prohibited many producers from planting wheat and restricted early stand development. Milus says that he himself was unable to plant a test plot due to an overabundance of fall rain.

Milus says it's difficult to determine how many acres were actually planted in Arkansas last fall, but looks at a range of 100,000 to 200,000 acres.

In January, the US Department of Agriculture estimated 2005 winter wheat acreage in Arkansas at 240,000 acres, down sharply from 670,000 in 2004.