What are the main wheat diseases? Explained clearly in one article

The main diseases of wheat include wheat scab, powdery mildew, leaf blight, etc. Wheat scab, commonly known as “rotten wheat head”, is a fungal disease; wheat powdery mildew can attack all aboveground organs of the wheat plant, but mainly the leaves and leaf sheaths, and when the disease is severe, the glumes and awns can also be affected; wheat leaf blight mostly begins to occur at the heading stage of wheat and is a low-temperature, high-humidity disease.

1. Wheat scab

It can be affected from the seedling stage to the heading stage, mainly causing seedling blight, stem base rot, stalk rot and ear rot, reducing the thousand-grain weight and affecting yield. Wheat grains carrying scab pathogens contain toxins, which can cause poisoning in humans and livestock, with symptoms such as vomiting, abdominal pain and dizziness.

Control measures: choose disease-resistant varieties, water less during the wheat flowering stage, and treat with systemic fungicides such as carbendazim and thiophanate-methyl.

2. Wheat powdery mildew

At the initial stage of the disease, white mildew spots of 1-2 mm appear on the leaf surface, then gradually expand into nearly round to oval white mildew patches. The surface of the mildew patches has a layer of white powder, which disperses immediately when subjected to external force or vibration. In the later stage, the mildew layer on the diseased part turns grayish white to light brown, and small black grain-like spots the size of pinheads are scattered on the lesions.

Control measures: apply medication at the early stage of the disease, such as heterocyclic compounds, triazoles, azoxystrobin, kresoxim-methyl, etc.

3. Wheat leaf blight

It mainly damages leaves and leaf sheaths. At the initial stage of the disease, oval light yellow to light green small spots grow on the leaves, and later irregular yellow-white to yellow-brown large patches form. Generally, the lower leaves begin to develop the disease and die first, then gradually spread upward, and in severe cases the leaves of the whole plant turn yellow and die.

Control measures: control irrigation and drain water in time; use thiram or triadimefon · carbendazim for seed dressing to prevent the disease; when the disease begins to occur in the field, use fungicides such as chlorothalonil + diniconazole, triadimefon, thiophanate-methyl, flusilazole, iprodione, etc. for control.