There is a link between roundup use and fusarium disease in spring
wheat. No or minimal til using roundup seems to lead to accumulation
and overwintering of fusarium in the crop debris. There is a similar
effect related to roundup and fusarium sudden death syndrome in soy.

Published in Crop Sci 45:1908-1916 (2005)
DOI: 10.2135/cropsci2004.0197

Crop Production Factors Associated with Fusarium Head Blight in Spring
Wheat in Eastern Saskatchewan M. R. Fernandeza,*, F. Sellesa, D.
Gehlb, R. M. DePauwa and R. P.
Zentnera
a Semiarid Prairie Agricultural Research Centre, Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada, P.O. Box 1030, Swift Current, SK, Canada S9H 3X2 b
Indian Head Research Farm, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, P.O. Box
760, Indian Head, SK, Canada S0G 2K0

Fusarium head blight (FHB) has been increasing in western regions of
the Canadian Prairies. The objective of this 4-yr study was to
identify crop production factors (CPF), associated with FHB
development in spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). From 1999 to 2002,
659 crops were sampled in eastern Saskatchewan for FHB levels, and
information gathered on agronomic practices used on these fields. In
2000 and 2001, percent Fusarium-damaged kernels (FDK) was also
determined. Differences in the FHB index among years indicated that
environment was the most important factor affecting disease
development. The effects of CPFs on FHB were lower in years with high
(2001) and low (1999 and 2002) disease pressure, compared with a year
with moderate (2000) disease pressure. Previous application of
glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine] formulations (GF) within
tillage system, tillage system, previously grown crop, and cultivar
susceptibility were the only CPFs that affected FHB. GF application in
the previous 18 mo within tillage system was significantly associated
with higher FHB levels every year; it was the only CPF in 1999, and
one of two CPFs in 2002, that affected FHB, suggesting that its effect
was not influenced as much by environmental conditions as that of
other CPFs. Percentage FDK was also higher in fields previously
treated with GF in 2000 and 2001. Because of the nature of this study,
we could not determine if the association between previous GF use and
FHB development was a cause–effect relationship. Thus, further
research is needed to elucidate the nature of this association and the
underlying mechanisms.




Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets. To plant a pine, one need only own a shovel.
-- Aldo Leopold

Tom Jaszewski wrote:
There is a link between roundup use and fusarium disease in spring
wheat. No or minimal til using roundup seems to lead to accumulation
and overwintering of fusarium in the crop debris. There is a similar
effect related to roundup and fusarium sudden death syndrome in soy.
[...]

Very interesting.

I suspect that Roundup kills a plant that contains a natural fungicide,
or else is food for some critter that eats the fungus or its spores or
else is a preferred host for the fungus, which in the absence of this
host colonises the next best thing. Or the critter that eats the fungus
also needs some other critter that feeds on a plant that's killed by the
Roundup. Or maybe the fungus has adapted to be more infectious to wheat
in the absence of its other host plants. Or maybe the "crop debris"
provides a better climate for overwintering when it contains no weeds.
Or some other subtle effect of disturbing the diversity of the
wheatfield (which is not very diverse in any case.) My reading around
these issues indicates that the cause-effect connection is very rarely a
simple one, which explains why such effects are rarely if ever caught in
the so-called testing stage of new products.

I have a very low opinion of chemicals such as roundup. That's why I
have a bumpersticker which simply says "Darth Monsanto"..... If you
put it in the ground, ya gotta drink or eat it eventually.

Just my opinion
Mathew

"Mathew in the Mountains" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a very low opinion of chemicals such as roundup. That's why I
have a bumpersticker which simply says "Darth Monsanto"..... If you
put it in the ground, ya gotta drink or eat it eventually.

Just my opinion
Mathew


But the guvmint says the shit is safe. Are you questioning our guvmint? :-)

Doug Kanter wrote
But the guvmint says the shit is safe.
Are you questioning our guvmint? :-)

============

Actually, every chemist that I know says that
Roundup is safe. I live in a university environment
and I know many PhD level chemists, including
some extremely "earth-friendly" professor types.

I was shock by how unanimous they were in trusting
Roundup. One organic gardener/chemistry professor
hasn't allowed any "chemical" on his lawn, garden or
compost piles for 20 years - except Roundup.

I'm convinced.

Gideon

Anon,


Perhaps you might ask if they've read the latest research, most of my
professor mentors continue to read and learn....you might find it
interesting....



On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 07:20:42 GMT, "Gideon" wrote:


Actually, every chemist that I know says that
Roundup is safe. I live in a university environment
and I know many PhD level chemists, including
some extremely "earth-friendly" professor types.



Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets. To plant a pine, one need only own a shovel.
-- Aldo Leopold

Gideon wrote:
Doug Kanter wrote
But the guvmint says the shit is safe.
Are you questioning our guvmint? :-)

============

Actually, every chemist that I know says that
Roundup is safe. I live in a university environment
and I know many PhD level chemists, including
some extremely "earth-friendly" professor types.

I was shock by how unanimous they were in trusting
Roundup. One organic gardener/chemistry professor
hasn't allowed any "chemical" on his lawn, garden or
compost piles for 20 years - except Roundup.

I'm convinced.

Gideon


Roundup is actually a variant on a plant hormone, which is why it works,
and why it's biodegradable. You can Roundup a weed patch and seed
whatever you like about two weeks later with no ill effects. Because
it's a variant, Monsanto was able to patent it, but the patents have run
out, and generic and differently branded versions are now available, at
much lower cost.

Monsanto now has Roundup-resistant Canola, wheat, and other crops
available, which they've patented. They won't sell them to a farmer
without also selling Roudnup. IMO, it's _not_ clear that Roudn-up
resistant crops are safe. Any time you tinker with one egne, you allso
chnage the effects of other genes, in unpredictable ways. This is why
breeding new varieties of organisms is difficult: selecting for a given
trait will also alter other traits. Short-circuiting the selection
process via gene modification doesn't change this principle.

But that's another issue.

"Gideon" wrote in message
. ..

Doug Kanter wrote
But the guvmint says the shit is safe.
Are you questioning our guvmint? :-)

============

Actually, every chemist that I know says that
Roundup is safe. I live in a university environment
and I know many PhD level chemists, including
some extremely "earth-friendly" professor types.

I was shock by how unanimous they were in trusting
Roundup. One organic gardener/chemistry professor
hasn't allowed any "chemical" on his lawn, garden or
compost piles for 20 years - except Roundup.

I'm convinced.

Gideon

Compost piles? If any of your PhD acquaintances are putting Roundup on their
compost piles, they are idiots. Or, you're making up stories.