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(Iowa) -- Southern Rust, a tropical fungal plant disease, is spreading across Iowa corn crops, threatening plant growth and farmers’ yields.
“Just like humans get diseases, plants do too,” said Daren Mueller, extension plant pathologist at Iowa State University. “This year we have a disease called Southern Rust, it's a tropical disease that we see more often in the South. This year, because of a set of circumstances in the South and the warm, wet weather we have had here, it showed up here in Iowa a lot earlier than we wanted.”
Southern Rust is a tropical disease that originates in the South and thrives off humidity and warm conditions. Caused by a fungus, it spreads to the leaves of the plants and takes energy from the plant, stopping it from growing.
The disease has already been reported in fields across 40 Iowa counties, and experts expect it to spread further.
“This is the fastest moving corn disease that we know of on the leaves and the upper part of the plant,” Mueller said. “Fields that haven't been sprayed, we anticipate it really taking off and affecting corn plants this next month.”
The disease gets its name from the rust-colored spots it creates on leaves and other parts of the plant. These spots stop the plants from photosynthesizing, or gaining energy from the sun, which halts plant growth.
“Part of the leaf is blighted or has the disease, it's taking energy out of that plant, it's not photosynthesizing and that's obviously what's needed to make sure that as much energy is going into that grain as possible,” Mueller explained. “That's where farmers make their money.”
Mueller says if it's not controlled, the disease can significantly reduce a farmer’s product production. Farmers can control the spread of Southern Rust by spraying uninfected plants with fungicide.