Browse Commercial Plant Disease Stories

Plant-parasitic nematodes cause billions of dollars in annual yield losses and represent a major impediment to meeting the challenge of feeding an ever-growing global population. One plant-parasitic nematode, the soybean cyst nematode, has been a long-standing focus of research and innovation in the Melissa G. Mitchum Lab at the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The first cases of southern corn rust for the 2023 growing season were discovered on Tuesday, June 20 and Wednesday June 21 in Clinch and Grady Counties , along the Georgia-Florida line. University of Georgia Extension experts are encouraging producers to be diligent in scouting for the fast-spreading disease among their corn crops.

Roses are red … and dozens of cultivated hues. Whatever their colors, they are among the most popular flower throughout the year for many consumers, from long-stemmed Valentine’s bouquets and Mother’s Day arrangements to a bounty of varieties available for planting in landscapes during the summer and fall.

The Southern Integrated Pest Management Center has inducted University of Georgia Cooperative Extension fruit pathologist Phil Brannen into the Integrated Pest Management Hall of Fame for his significant contributions to commercial fruit growers throughout the Southern U.S. over the past 30 years.

New insect wreaking havoc in your cotton field? Troublesome disease in your peanut stand you don’t recognize? No idea where to start? There’s an app for that.

New research from the University of Georgia has shown, for the first time, that compounds used to fight fungal diseases in plants are causing resistance to antifungal medications used to treat people. 

Eleven grants totaling $1.5 million were awarded in November 2021 to recipients of the third round of Presidential Interdisciplinary Seed Grants. Overall the awards went to faculty from 13 UGA departments, centers, programs, schools and colleges.

University of Georgia plant pathology researcher Melissa Mitchum will co-direct a $1.2 million award from the joint National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NSF-NIFA) Plant-Biotic Interactions Program to help combat a devastating soybean pathogen with colleagues at the University of Missouri.         

University of Georgia researchers have identified a new species of bacteria, which they have named Pseudomonas alliivorans — from “allium vorans,” which translates as onion devourer or eater.

Excessive rain signals another a bad year for leaf spot diseases on landscape trees and shrubs. The leaf spotting that affects pear trees, including both edible pears and ornamental Bradford types, is caused by a fungal disease known as Entomosporium leaf spot. This disease also affects related shrubs such as Indian hawthorn and red tip photinia.