Aug 15th, 2012: Short (“Belg”) season surveys undertaken in the Bale zone of Ethiopia

A survey team co-led by Dr Bekele Hundie (Sinana Research Station) and Dr Getaneh Woldeab (Ambo Plant Protection Center) carried out surveys in the Bale zone of southern Ethiopia during the period 4-6th Aug 2012. A total of 54 fields were surveyed, covering a range of bread wheat varieties, local emmer wheat and durum wheat. The majority of the “Belg” season crops observed were at dough to maturity, with some crops already harvested. This region represents a classic “green-bridge” area with the main season crops already emerged; green freshly emerged crops adjacent to crops close to maturity and infected with rust were a common sight. Both stem and leaf rust were observed on the survey. Stem rust was recorded in 33 of the fields surveyed (61%) and leaf rust in 25 of the fields (54%).

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