The Rural Voice, 1999-04, Page 58KMM FARM DRAINAGE
Walton
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54 THE RURAL VOICE
Advice
Control crop disease
through rotation
By Albert Tenuta
Crop Pathologist
Ridgetown College
Crop rotation provides producers
with one of the most effective and
economical methods of controlling
plant diseases. Unfortunately, the
importance of a good crop rotation is
often overshadowed by other
considerations.
The result of reduced crop
rotations, particularly in the
southwestern portion of the province,
has been more soybean diseases.
Diseases on the rise include soybean
cyst nematode, white mould,
phytophthora root rot, rhizoctonia
root rot, sudden death syndrome,
stem canker and brown stem rot.
Now is the time to sit down and
contemplate how to get corn, wheat
or other crops back into your rotation.
Imagine the disease potential of your
field as an equal -sided triangle where
the three sides are labelled: host,
pathogen and environment. The
interaction of these three factors
determine the disease risk potential of
your field.
Plant Pathologists refer to this as
"The Disease Triangle". For a disease
to occur, the plant and pathogen have
to come together under suitable
environmental conditions. If any of
these three factors are absent then
disease development is not possible.
For instance, if you switch a
susceptible host with either a non -
host crop or a resistant variety then
disease development is stopped. The
same goes for the pathogen, if it is
not present or is not in an infective
stage, then no disease! The
important thing to remember is that
the pathogen has to be physically
present for a disease to occur. This is
a point that I think growers
sometimes forget and, at times it is
tempting to think of disease
outbreaks as being related to the
weather or some other factor. When
Tess than ideal environmental
conditions exist, the pathogen's
ability to cause disease on a
susceptible host is reduced. Visually,