Cooperative Extension Service Communications and Technology Department 3354 1000 E. University Ave. Laramie, WY 82071 (307) 766-6342 • fax (307) 766-3998 • www.uwyo.edu

 

For Immediate Release

 

 

Contact: Steven L. Miller, Senior Editor

Phone: (307) 766-6342

E-mail: slmiller@uwyo.edu

Archived News Site www.uwyo.edu/agadmin/news/news.htm

 

Date: July 12, 2006

New UW bulletins detail sugar beet, potato diseases

 

            A new sugar beet and two potato bulletins that detail diseases are available to producers. They were written by a plant pathologist with the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service.

            Gray Franc, a professor in the Department of Plant Sciences in the College of Agriculture, has produced Powdery Mildew of Sugar Beets, MP-115; Rhizoctonia Canker and Black Scurf of Potato, MP-116; and Silver Scurf of Potato, MP-117.

            Each contains detailed, color photographs that accompany descriptions of symptoms and signs, the causal organism, disease development and management approaches available to producers.

             Powdery mildew is caused by a fungus that also infects Swiss chard and table beet. Rhizoctonia canker and black scurf, caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia solani, is one of the most common potato diseases. Silver scurf is a cosmetic disease of the tuber skin that affects tuber appearance and consumer acceptance.

Each publication is available for free download on the Internet at http://www.uwyo.edu/CES/plantsci.htm.

Copies of Powdery Mildew of Sugar Beets can be obtained for $5 each, and copies of Rhizoctonia Canker and Black Scurf of Potato and Silver Scurf of Potato can be obtained for $10 each by e-mailing the College of Agriculture’s Resource Center at bixbyd@uwyo.edu, calling the center at (307) 766-2115, or writing to the University of Wyoming, College of Agriculture, Department 3313, 1000 E. University Ave., Laramie, WY 82071.

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