Disease Management
For the last two years, COVID has been in the news and a part of our daily lives. Since then, we have been taking preventative measures to help keep ourselves healthy and safe. Just like thoroughly washing your hands or wearing a mask, there are measures you can take to ensure your fields stay disease free as well. Disease management is important with all crop types, but it is especially important in pulse crops. Crop rotation and the use of fungicides are just a few key management options for controlling disease in your fields. One of the best ways to protect your pulse crop from disease is by buying seed with strong disease resistant traits.
Many of the new pea varieties come with impressive disease resistant packages that protect them from diseases like powdery mildew and fusarium wilt. There are also some varieties that express a slight resistance to ascochyta blight, but there is not currently a variety that is fully resistant to this disease. Diseases such as ascochyta blight can affect yields by as much as 90% so by starting with seed that has a resistance, you are already reducing the risk of yield loss.
Another disease management practice that won’t cost producers anything is implementing a crop rotation plan. Pulse crops should be planted on a four-year minimum rotation. A tighter rotation plan will allow disease such as root rot to live residually in the soil. The best way to minimize residual disease in your fields is by combining a long crop rotation with early planting. Most of the diseases found in pulse crops flourish in warm soils. Planting varieties with strong early season vigor will allow the crop to establish itself before the soil warms up and disease presents itself.
Lastly, the use of fungicides is a great way to limit the impact of diseases. Fungicides are relatively cheap and a very effective way to suppress fungal infections. Many in-crop diseases are caused by excessive moisture, so depending on the conditions, fungicides may not be needed. Just be aware that diseases can develop a resistance to fungicides, so application rates and modes of action are important to their effectiveness.
As always, contact your local agronomist or extension center for help in planning a rotation or finding the right fungicides for your application. With the right disease management plan, you can minimize loss and improve your soil health for the future. From everyone at Pulse USA we wish you a happy and healthy New Year!
Please visit the following links for more information.
https://www.northernpulse.com/resources/research/PulseDiseases/PlantPathologyPlantDiseaseManagement/
