Wheat Disease Update from Oklahoma

Wheat Disease Update –06-Jun-2011



Bob Hunger, Extension Wheat Pathologist


Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology


Oklahoma State University






Oklahoma: Harvest is occurring or starting across all of Oklahoma, so observations and reports of disease occurrence are about at an end. The only disease observations that have come to my attention are a number of samples from the OK panhandle that came into the diagnostic lab last week and tested positive for various combinations of wheat streak mosaic virus, wheat mosaic virus (high plains virus), Triticum mosaic virus, and barley yellow dwarf virus. This is similar to the panhandle of Texas where Dr. Jacob Price (Plant Pathology Research Associate, Texas AgriLife Research, Amarillo, TX) has reported that, “During this wheat season 214 samples were submitted to the GPDN diagnostic lab in Amarillo from counties in the northern Texas Panhandle. Of these, many were found to be infected with single and multiple infections of Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV), Triticum mosaic virus (TriMV), Wheat mosaic virus (WMoV), and Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV). The most prevalent viruses found were WSMV and BYDV at 31 and 21%, respectively. Thirteen percent of samples were found to be infected with TriMV and of these samples 93% were also infected with WSMV, as has been seen in previous years. Only 4 and .01% of the samples were found to be infected with WMoV and CYDV, respectively. These results are similar to previous years.”