Kentucky Faces Difficulty With Alfalfa Establishment in 2016

Wet and humid weather resulted in a number of diseases popping up in alfalfa crops across the commonwealth.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Kentucky Faces Difficulty With Alfalfa Establishment in 2016
Alfalfa has a tremendous ability to survive and grow under dry conditions, but summer 2016 was one of the wettest on record for much of Kentucky. | Photo: iStock
Alfalfa has a tremendous ability to survive and grow under dry conditions, but summer 2016 was one of the wettest on record for much of Kentucky. As a result, the University of Kentucky (UK) Plant Diagnostic Laboratory received a number of samples of diseased alfalfa, especially from seedling stands, from producers.

The lab reported cases of water mold, root rot, and seedling blight (caused by Aphanomyces, Phytophthora, and other fungi) early this growing season. Normally, fungicides on coated alfalfa seed prevent most seedling diseases, but it appears this year’s wet and humid conditions overwhelmed the seed treatments in many fields.

Additionally, there was a tremendous amount of summer black stem in the past few months. This disease is not uncommon in Kentucky, but this year it showed up early and continued throughout summer.

The lab also identified cases of Rhizoctonia web blight, which is unusual and indicates very wet and humid conditions. Alfalfa has no genetic resistance to either summer black stem or Rhizoctonia, but good management normally allows the plant to survive these diseases. Some stands were so severely affected that they had to be replanted or will have to be taken out of production

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

How much time do you usually spend grooming your horse?
437 votes · 437 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!