Friday, September 9th 2016
A new bacteria is making its way into cornfields across the Corn Belt. Bacterial leaf streak is so new to the United States, researchers at Kansas State University don’t know if it will impact this fall’s yields. The disease was confirmed by the U.S Department of Agriculture-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on Aug. 26, 2016. At this time, APHIS plans on treating it the same was as other corn diseases, like Goss’s bacterial blight. Researchers believe the disease came from South African corn, however it’s been linked to gumming disease of sugarcane. Because of the newness of bacterial leaf streak, researchers don’t know how it came to the United States. According to a survey conducted by APHIS, bacterial leaf streak has been found in nine states: Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas.