Wheat
Kansas is the number one producer of hard red winter wheat in the United States and among the top wheat producing states with 7-8 million acres planted every year. Unfortunately, diseases can be one of the biggest threats to wheat production in the state resulting in 10% yield loss on average over the past decade. Among the top offenders are stripe rust (Puccinia striiformi f. sp. tritici), leaf rust (Puccinia triticina), Fusarium head blight (Fusarium graminearum), and the wheat streak mosaic virus complex. In the Department of Plant Pathology at Kansas State University we provide dynamic, research-based extension resources to wheat producers and other stakeholders in the state of Kansas and regionally. Please see selected KSRE Bookstore publications below.
Wheat Disease Management
Disease Identification
Three distinct diseases (leaf rust, stripe rust, and stem rust) occur on wheat and barley in North America.
Your short guide to begin identifying and managing diseases in wheat.
Additional Disease Information
Symptoms of barley yellow dwarf include stunting and yellow or red discoloration of the leaf tips.
Symptoms of flag smut include stunted plants with deformed tillers. The leaves of infected plants are twisted and have long gray lesions that break open to release black, powdery spores.
The disease can be distinguished from other foliar diseases by the presence of small black fruiting bodies within the lesions.
Symptoms of wheat soilborne mosaic include a mosaic of small “green islands” on a pale yellow background.
Wheat streak mosaic causes a yellow discoloration of leaves. This discoloration is most intense near the leaf tip.
Stripe rust typically produces yellow or orange blister-like lesions that are arranged in stripes.
Take-all root rot causes wheat to die prematurely, resulting in patches of tan wheat in otherwise green fields.
Symptoms of tan spot include elliptical or diamond shaped lesions that have a yellow halo.
Contact Us
Kelsey Andersen Onofre
Assistant Professor
Wheat & Forages
785-410-2426 (m)
Chandler Day
Associate Diagnostician
Row Crops, Wheat, & Forage