Fungal Disease Outbreak Hits Pacific Northwest Vegetables

A plant pathologist is encouraging vegetable and oilseed growers to take extra precautions after an outbreak of three fungal diseases in Pacific Northwest crops.

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For preventive measures and related information about the outbreaks, view the newly released reports about blackleg, light leaf spot, and white leaf spot by plant pathologists Cindy M. Ocamb, Oregon State University; and Lindsey du Toit, Washington State University.

While only five Washington counties have a quarantine for blackleg, the most serious of the three, du Toit said in the coming growing seasons growers across the region should only use certified seed lots that test negative for blackleg.

Blackleg can be a significant problem in fall- or spring-sown plantings of broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, collard, kale, rutabaga, mustard, canola, rape, and other plants in this family. The Pacific Northwest has particularly favorable warm and humid conditions for the disease, du Toit said.

The most recent outbreaks of all three fungal diseases occurred in Oregon’s Willamette Valley in early spring 2014. In the 1970s, outbreaks of blackleg in the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. nearly devastated the brassica seed industry as the outbreaks were tied to infected seed lots produced in the Pacific Northwest.

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Visit the Pacific Northwest Vegetable Extension Group website, for more information about the diseases. See Production of Brassica Seed Crops in Washington State,for more on why blackleg and other crucifer diseases have raised concerns about the need for additional quarantines.

 

Source: Washington State University News release, Rachel Webber, College of Agricultural, Human & Natural Resource Sciences

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