Fusarium and round up use...

[farming101]

Straw and chaff from last year's crop is 2 inches deep between the rows. Perfect for all manner of disease and spores to hang out in.
I'm thinking of taking the disc to fields that will be wheat next year asap after they are harvested this year. Give the critters in the soil a chance to eat up some of this stuff.

[furrowtickler]

You are very right farming 101. In 2014 in the pea fields that were a wreck with root rot any low areas that were worked black by discing in the fall were perfectly fine . The should have had aphenomices real bad, but did not, being that they were still wetter than the rest of the field .
Heavy crop residue is a huge part of the problem but there still needs to be a catalyst to start the fire so to speak

[Integrity_Farmer]

I know farmers love roundup but here is an article from a researcher from Ag Canada comments about a link between roundup and fusarium. This seems to work well for the chemical companies they sell us the problem and then the cure. I wonder what happened top this researcher Myriam Fernandez.

Weedkiller may boost toxic fungi
By Andy Coghlan

A widely used herbicide encourages the growth of toxic fungi that devastate wheat fields, laboratory studies by scientists working for the Canadian government suggest.

If further studies confirm that the herbicide, glyphosate, increases the risk of fungal infections – which are already a huge problem – farmers might be advised to use it less.

That could be a major blow for backers of genetically modified wheat in Canada, because the first GM variety up for approval in Canada is modified to be glyphosate-resistant. If it gets the go-ahead, there is likely to be an overall increase in glyphosate use.

The potential problem was spotted during a five-year study of plant diseases headed by Myriam Fernandez of the Semiarid Prairie Agricultural Research Centre run by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. She noticed that in some fields where glyphosate had been applied in spring just before planting, wheat appeared to be worse affected by fusarium head blight – a devastating fungal disease that damages grain and turns it pink.

Deadly toxins
In Europe alone, fusarium head blight destroys a fifth of wheat harvests. The fungi that cause the disease also produce toxins that can kill humans and animals.

“We found higher levels of blight within each tillage category when glyphosate had been used,” says her colleague Keith Hanson.

And his lab study showed that Fusarium graminearum and F. avenaceum, the fungi that cause head blight, grow faster when glyphosate-based weedkillers are added to the nutrient medium.

But the investigators warn against jumping to conclusions. “We’re deferring judgement until we have all the data,” says Hanson. Analysis of the last four years of data from the study is not yet complete, Fernandez stresses.

Dead plant matter
Hanson says that the real issue is whether the fungi leave more spores in the soil. It is also possible that the effect is simply due to herbicides leaving more dead plant matter in the soil for fungi to grow on and is not directly caused by glyphosate.

Monsanto, the company based in St Louis, Missouri, that sells glyphosate as Roundup, as well as a number of “Roundup Ready” crops modified to be resistant to it, claims that glyphosate is already widely used without causing any apparent problems with fungi. Monsanto applied to the Canadian government in December 2002 for approval of its Roundup Ready GM wheat. It says it will be keeping a close watch on Fernandez’s research.

The team’s initial findings are likely to be seized upon by anti-GM activists. But switching to other herbicides could be bad news for the environment – glyphosate is one of the least harmful herbicides, as it quickly breaks down in the soil.

Ironically, Syngenta, another biotech giant, based in Basle, Switzerland, has been developing and testing both GM and conventional wheat strains that are resistant to the fusarium head fungi. “The results have been promising,” says a Syngenta spokesman.





https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn4051-weedkiller-may-boost-toxic-fungi/

[blackpowder]

This discussion sounds familiar.
Respected researchers on both sides until one side wins over the publics emotions. Goodbye Glyphosate!!

[furrowtickler]

Miss Fernandez was politely told to go into other research after publishing that from what I was told .
I have just recently read her work on the fusarium study . This is concerning to say the least.

[furrowtickler]

Integrity guy , it not that we as farmers love round up , that's B/S as well . The fact is it's a great tool , but we have all been led down the garden path for 30 years under the miss information that round up does not tie up in the soil and degrades quickly . Well time is proving that may not be the case .

[sumdumguy]

I am thinking that first testing was done on one formulation. Who knows what evolution has taken place since then? (But we still call it Round-Up)

[Braveheart]

I agree with Furrow. Glyphosate is a great tool. Without it our soil would be at risk on our annual cropping acres. Without glyphosate our economics would be drastically different as our cropping costs would rise along with our fixed costs.

This why I wonder about studies that go in the direction of fore mentioned studies. Why waste resources studying an essential product rather than study ways to eliminate fusarium ie resistance, control, rotations, etc. Fusarium was here long before glyphosate in fact, before man was likely here.

[furrowtickler]

Good point braveheart.

[Integrity_Farmer]

Integrity guy , it not that we as farmers love round up , that's B/S as well . The fact is it's a great tool , but we have all been led down the garden path for 30 years under the miss information that round up does not tie up in the soil and degrades quickly . Well time is proving that may not be the case .

Agreed! I gave the wrong characterization.