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The value of glyphosate to growers practicing minimum or no‐till farming has been primarily a function of three factors: broad‐spectrum weed control, little to no carryover effect, and cost effectiveness. A 2‐year field study was conducted in 2021 and 2022 at the University of Idaho Research and Extension Centers at Kimberly and Aberdeen, ID, to evaluate the efficacy of alternative pre‐plant burndown herbicide treatments as compared to glyphosate treatment, the industry standard in small grain production systems. Herbicide cost comparison and crop injury observation were also conducted. Most herbicide treatments provided ≥$ \ge $90% control of the predominant weed species at 3 weeks after herbicide application. At least six different herbicide treatments had an equivalent cost to that of glyphosate at $26.50 ha−1. No observable damage from herbicide treatments was observed and crop yield was not affected by the treatments. These factors indicate that there are alternatives to pre‐plant burndown herbicides that are equally effective as glyphosate. With combinations of herbicides, each having a different site of action, weed control can be achieved while simultaneously reducing the risk of herbicide resistance. Core Ideas: Alternatives to glyphosate for pre‐plant weed control would reduce overreliance on glyphosate.Alternative herbicides to glyphosate provided ≥90% control of the predominant weed species.At least six different herbicide treatments were effective and had equivalent costs to glyphosate.No visible crop damage or yield reduction was observed from any of the herbicide treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'GemCraft' (Reg. no CV‐379, PI 701910), is a two‐rowed spring malt barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) developed by the USDA‐ARS, Aberdeen, ID, in cooperation with the University of Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station, in 2023. The release is derived from the cross of 2B98‐5312/98Ab11993 and was advanced through the bulk pedigree method F1–F5. GemCraft has been tested at the USDA‐ARS, and all other cooperative trials, as line 2Ab08‐X05M010‐65. This cultivar has been tested across 32 location years under irrigated conditions and 13 location years in dryland conditions. GemCraft has shown similar yield to the current malting barley cultivar checks Voyager, Merit 57, M69, Conrad, and AC Metcalfe but has higher yield potential than 'CDC Copeland', M69, and 'Harrington' under irrigated conditions. In dryland trials, GemCraft has similar yield to the checks of Voyager and Conrad but higher yield than other checks. Malting quality evaluation results showed GemCraft has high extract, low protein, and competent values in other traits. All the evaluations suggested that GemCraft would be a good choice as a malting cultivar for craft brewers. Core Ideas: The cultivar is a two‐rowed spring malting barley.This cultivar is specifically developed for the craft brewing industry.The cultivar has great yield potential.Laboratory testing confirmed the good malting quality.Brewers Association tested the cultivar and concluded the satisfactory flavor to the craft brewers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on a study regarding the molecular identification and quantification of Pythium species. It reports that Pythium can be easily classified based on the morphology of their asexual and sexual structures. It reports that Pythium have unique shape of the sporangia and ornamentation of the oogonia. It informs that the species can be identified by sequencing specific loci and sequence alignments using a reference database.

The article presents a study on the extraction of Pythium and Rhizoctonia DNA from wheat roots and soil samples with the use pressure cycling technology (PCT). The PCT was performed in a closed system in which it also reduces the shearing and heating of samples. It was reported that the effectiveness of PCT for three soils reveals that it will be advantageous for other hard-to-extract pathogen samples.

Rhizoctonia root rot and bare patch, caused by Rhizoctonia solani anastomosis group (AG)-8 and R. oryzae, are chronic and important yield-limiting diseases of wheat and barley in the Inland Pacific Northwest (PNW) of the United States. Major gaps remain in our understanding of the epidemiology of these diseases, in part because multiple Rhizoctonia AGs and species can be isolated from the same cereal roots from the field, contributing to the challenge of identifying the causal agents correctly. In this study, a collection totaling 498 isolates of Rhizoctonia was assembled from surveys conducted from 2000 to 2009, 2010, and 2011 over a wide range of cereal production fields throughout Washington State in the PNW. To determine the identity of the isolates, PCR with AG- or species-specific primers and/or DNA sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacers was performed. R. solani AG-2-1, AG-8, AG-10, AG-3, AG-4, and AG-11 comprised 157 (32%), 70 (14%), 21 (4%), 20 (4%), 1 (0.2%), and 1 (0.2%), respectively, of the total isolates. AG-I-like binucleate Rhizoctonia sp. comprised 44 (9%) of the total; and 53 (11%), 80 (16%), and 51 (10%) were identified as R. oryzae genotypes I, II, and III, respectively. Isolates of AG-2-1, the dominant Rhizoctonia, occurred in all six agronomic zones defined by annual precipitation and temperature within the region sampled. Isolates of AG-8 also were cosmopolitan in their distribution but the frequency of isolation varied among years, and they were most abundant in zones of low and moderate precipitation. R. oryzae was cosmopolitan, and collectively the three genotypes comprised 37% of the isolates. Only isolates of R. solani AG-8 and R. oryzae genotypes II and III (but not genotype I) caused symptoms typically associated with Rhizoctonia root rot and bare patch of wheat. Isolates of AG-2-1 caused only mild root rot and AG-I-like binucleate isolates and members of groups AG-3, AG-4, and AG-11 showed only slight or no discoloration of the roots. However, all isolates of AG-2-1 caused severe damping-off of canola, resulting in 100% mortality. Isolates of Rhizoctonia AG-8, AG-2-1, AG-10, AG-I-like binucleate Rhizoctonia, and R. oryzae genotypes I, II, and III could be distinguished by colony morphology on potato dextrose agar, by PCR with specific primers, or by the type and severity of disease on wheat and canola seedlings, and results of these approaches correlated completely. Based on cultured isolates, we also identified the geographic distribution of all of these Rhizoctonia isolates in cereal-based production systems throughout Washington State. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rhizoctonia bare patch and root rot disease of wheat, caused by Rhizoctonia solani AG-8, develops as distinct patches of stunted plants and limits the yield of direct-seeded (no-till) wheat in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. At the site of a long-term cropping systems study near Ritzville, WA, a decline in Rhizoctonia patch disease was observed over an 11-year period. Bacterial communities from bulk and rhizosphere soil of plants from inside the patches, outside the patches, and recovered patches were analyzed by using pyrosequencing with primers designed for 16S rRNA. Taxa in the class Acidobacteria and the genus Gemmatimonas were found at higher frequencies in the rhizosphere of healthy plants outside the patches than in that of diseased plants from inside the patches. Dyella and Acidobacteria subgroup Gp7 were found at higher frequencies in recovered patches. Chitinophaga, Pedobacter, Oxalobacteriaceae (Duganella and Massilia), and Chyseobacterium were found at higher frequencies in the rhizosphere of diseased plants from inside the patches. For selected taxa, trends were validated by quantitative PCR (qPCR), and observed shifts of frequencies in the rhizosphere over time were duplicated in cycling experiments in the greenhouse that involved successive plantings of wheat in Rhizoctonia-inoculated soil. Chryseobacterium soldanellicola was isolated from the rhizosphere inside the patches and exhibited significant antagonism against R. solani AG-8 in vitro and in greenhouse tests. In conclusion, we identified novel bacterial taxa that respond to conditions affecting bare patch disease symptoms and that may be involved in suppression of Rhizoctonia root rot and bare batch disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]