Plant pathologists from Bayer International in the United States of America recently shared their insights on Goss’s wilt (Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. Nebraskensis), a bacterium that has affected maize crops since 1969 in the US.
During this session, Dr. Andrea Dolezal, a maize pathologist, spoke about the history of Goss’s wilt in the United States and how this regional disease first appeared in Nebraska and then spread to 23 countries.
As this disease made its appearance in South Africa for the first time last year, Dr. Dolezal and Dr. Samantha Thomas spoke to local maize farmers about how to identify Goss’s wilt, its life cycle, non-maize hosts, its genetic tolerance and how to combat it.
