Education Commons^™

Ec97-1874 Diseases Affecting Grain And Seed Quality In Wheat, John E. Watkins, Larry J. Prentice

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Seed-associated diseases of wheat draw considerable attention because they often reduce both grain quality and yield. In addition ergot and scab diseases bring in a third dimension because toxins associated with each present a potentially serious health risk to humans and animals. Yield losses caused by smuts are roughly equal to the percentage of smutted heads in the field; however, losses from black point, scab or ergot are less easily measured. For example, wheat in the soft dough stage that is infected by one of the scab pathogens may still produce plump, good test weight kernels resulting in minimal yield …