Scab Disease Could Be A Thing of the Past...Hopefully

By Don Molino, The Voice of Louisiana Agriculture Radio Network

Fuserium Head Blight—or Scab Disease—has hit the Louisiana wheat crop hard the past few years.  LSU AgCenter plant breeder Dr. Steve Harrison reports they do a lot of screening and testing for scab resistance.

“We do that in cooperation with Dr. Don Groth at the Rice Research Station and Dr. Trey Price at the Macon Ridge Research Station, who are both pathologists,” said Harrison.

“We also do that in collaboration with the Sun Grain Breeders, the southeast university grain breeders at Florida, Georgia, North Carolina State, Arkansas and Texas A&M.”

“We’re making good progress,” Harrison went on. “We released a variety last year that’s being marketed as AGS-3000 that has pretty good resistance.”

Harrison pointed out all the research is funded through several avenues.

“We get funding from a federal wheat and barley program. We also get significant funding from the Louisiana Soybean and Grain Research and Promotion Board, and that’s crucial in what we’re doing in trying to develop varieties our growers in Louisiana and in the region can produce and be successful with.”