Wheat Scab in Minnesota

Abstract

Scab or "head blight" of wheat has been known in Minnesota for more than twenty years. The disease seems to have attracted little attention, however, until about 1915 1vhen it became suffi·ciently prevalent, especially on Marquis wheat, to attract the attention of growers, who sent to the experiment station a great many diseased heads of wheat with the comment that head blight was doing a great deal of damage. Practically every one of these farmers said that Marquis was more severely injured than other varieties. Whether the introduction of Marquis and its g-eneral use was responsible for the increasing amount of scab is not definitely known, but it is certain that the disease seems to have become more prevalent with the general adoption of Marquis. Altho considerable work already had been clone on the disease, many facts concerning its general characteristics were still unknown when the writers began their investigations. The conclitions most favorable for its development, the plants attacked, the distribution in the state, the amount of damage caused by the disease, and especially the control measures were known only very imperfectly. For this reason work on these various phases of the problem was begun in 1915 and has been continued until the present time. The major part of the work was completed in 1920 and little has been clone since.