Recently, I had the opportunity to help host the 2014 SICNA convention which was held at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension station in Corpus Christi and which was organized this year by Dr. Bill Rooney, my boss and the director of the sorghum program here at A&M. SICNA, the Sorghum Improvement Conference of North America, is dedicated to sorghum development and research in cooperation with universities, the USDA, and the private sector.¹ Close to 100 people attended the conference and represented several different institutions including Texas A&M and Texas AgriLife, Kansas State University, Monsanto, Pioneer, NexSteppe, the USDA, and the Sorghum Checkoff.
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| A display at SICNA |
For the
most part, my responsibilities included helping with registration, refreshments,
and the meals, but I did have the opportunity to meet some of the bigwigs and sit
in on some of the talks. Two of the hot topics in sorghum these days are sugarcane
aphids and sorghum downy mildew. I was able to hear talks on both subjects.
In case
you may be wondering just what a sugarcane aphid is, it is a very tiny, soft
bodied insect that uses its piercing-sucking mouthpart to drink from the
vascular tissue of the plant. As you can imagine, this isn’t good news for the
plant it’s infesting. Sugarcane aphids are usually located on the lower leaves
of sorghum, but on a heavily infested plant, they can be as high up as the
panicle.² Not only do they suck the juices out of the plant, as they drink they
exude sticky honeydew from their abdomens. This honeydew is often times a
breeding ground for black, sooty mold.
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| Aphids |
Dr. Raul
Villanueva, an A&M assistant professor and extension specialist in Weslaco,
Texas, gave a talk about the phenology and control of aphids in the Valley.³ In
his talk, he discussed the tremendous damage that aphids caused on sorghum in
2013. They reported up to 50% losses in some areas. Because of this, the EPA
granted a Section 18 Emergency Exemption which allowed for the use of Transform
WG (an insecticide not marketed for sorghum) to be used on sorghum.⁴
Dr. Michael Brewer, an A&M assistant professor working in field crop
entomology, elaborated on the use of Transform WG -as well as economic
thresholds and IPM (integrated pest management) in sorghum. Both Dr. Villanueva
and Dr. Brewer reported that the use of Transform WG on sorghum decreased the
aphid populations.
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| Sorghum Downy Mildew |
Sorghum
Downy Mildew was the next topic on the agenda. Dr. Gary Odvody, an A&M
associate professor of plant pathology, gave a talk about the history of this
disease in Texas and its current status. Sorghum Downy Mildew (SDM) is caused
by Peronosclerospora sorghi, a fungus. The symptoms can be
systemic or local. With a systemic infection, the whole plant is affected. In
such a case, the leaves would have white striping down their length and would
be narrow and shredded. In a severe case, the plant may not form a panicle or
may die. Plant also may only have local lesions that come in the form of dark
spots on the leaves. Local lesions aren’t detrimental to yield.⁶
In his
talk, Dr. Odvody stated that SDM was first observed in 1958 around the College
Station and Beeville area. From then on, SDM has been an issue with sorghum,
due in part to its ability to overwinter in the soil for up to two years and
also because of the agricultural practice of monocultures. However, there are fungicide
treatments for SDM; the most commonly used is metalaxyl.
A good
portion of the information that was discussed in the talks was above my head,
but I was very pleased to be able to listen in anyway. Having been able to hear
about what is currently going on with sorghum and meet the people who are
directly involved with it gave me a greater understanding and appreciation for
what we are doing in our own fields.
Each day
I learn a little more about sorghum and plant breeding, and each day I come
home loving my job even more!
References
⁴ http://www2.epa.gov/pesticide-registration/pesticide-emergency-exemptions
⁵ http://entomology.tamu.edu/people/brewer-mike/
⁸http://agfax.com/wp-content/uploads/sugarcane-aphid-comp-texas-03112014.jpg
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