February 09, 2014

09/02/2014: Understanding the spread of fusarium toxin in grains

Crop production patterns are changing in southern Idaho, USA, due to the severity of a small grain disease problem head blight. As a result growers have seen barley production shift westward to escape the pressure.
http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/crops/plant-diseases/print,dealing-with-fusarium-head-blight.html
Grain infected with fusarium produces toxins that cause livestock to go off their feed and in beer production, for the beer to gush so that bottles can’t be capped even at levels as low as 1 to 3 parts per million.

“We have a limited ability to use contaminated grain,” said Juliet Marshall, University of Idaho extension cereal pathologist. She has seen whole loads of grain dumped because vom toxins were too high. And its likely ton continue.

Marshall has been warning growers that the risk of fusarium head blight increases as corn acres rise. In a Magic Valley report she explains more the reasons behind the increase in crop contamination.

Read more here ...

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