Some Iowa corn growers are finding a new type of disease on the leaves of their crops. Plant pathologist Doug Jardine says the disease streaks the leaves and somewhat resembles “gray leaf spot” but it’s different. Jardine says with corn maturing and drying, it likely won’t spread any further this season. “We’ve probably, for the most part, wrapped up what we’re going to find this year but we’re already making plans to do a more extensive survey next summer,” Jardine says.

The new disease is being called X-V-V and researchers don’t know how it got here, how to control it or even whether it needs to be controlled. The big question is — will it reduce yields? “That we do not know yet,” he says. “Those studies are being planned for next summer.” Jardine says anytime you get something new that has the potential to impact the corn crop, it’s a big deal in the heartland, especially in Iowa where corn is king.

“Most diseases in the corn crop that we deal with on a regular basis are fungal diseases and many of them can be treated with a fungicide for management,” Jardine says. “This is a bacterial disease and we have another bacterial disease in corn called Goss’s Blight which is also fairly widespread across the corn belt. We’ve been living with that for a few decades but this one is new.”

X-V-V has been found in nine states so far, in Iowa, as well as Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois and Colorado.

(Radio Iowa)