Computerized Plant Diagnosis Provides Prompt Answers
More than 1,500 samples of suspect diseases, unidentified bugs or unusual spots on plants and farm crops poured into the plant diagnostic labs at K-State last year.
None, however, were more important to Lori Sporer than the three or four that she sent in each month.
The past two years, Sporer, who runs a one-agent K-State Research and Extension office in Logan County, moved out of her comfort zone and into the county’s farm fields. As the county’s family and consumer sciences agent, she’s a home economist by training.
But when the area’s farmers and other growers have questions about suspect diseases, she’s the go-to gal in Logan County.
“This county has little or no industry outside of cattle and farming,” Sporer said, adding that the county normally has an agriculture agent in the extension office, but the position has been vacant for two years.
“Being the only person in the county, I’ve had to cover all the bases.”
Armed with a digital camera and her office computer, Sporer sends test samples electronically to the nine-state Great Plains Diagnostic Network (GPDN), which is based at K-State’s Manhattan campus.
Compared to traditional testing methods – which includes bagging samples and mailing them to a testing lab – the diagnostic system drastically reduces the time that farmers must wait to get results on a suspected disease or damaged crop.
GPDN is one of five regional centers in a national network of plant diagnostic laboratories. Each center has plant specialists, but they also share information across the country to detect potential disease outbreaks or even bioterrorist threats.
GPDN gives farmers the combined expertise of plant diagnosticians, entomologists, and other specialists across the United States.
“It allows us to get information from across the country that can be mined,” said Will Lanier, an entomologist at Montana State University who has been using the plant diagnostic software for two years.
Extension agents across the country are being trained as “first detectors,” said Joy Pierzynski, a diagnostician at K-State. The software that powers the national network – called Plant Diagnostic Information Service, or PDIS – was developed by Will Baldwin, a software engineer with K-State Research and Extension.
Pierzynski notes that the software has made it possible to do large surveys of plant diseases, such as an extensive project being conducted at Cornell University.
In Kansas, it means that farmers get the combined expertise of plant diagnosticians, entomologists, and other specialists across the nation.
“It’s made my job easier,” said Montana’s Lanier, who has helped implement the system in his state. “I can service my clients quicker, and it forms a database, of sorts, for the farmer, the extension agent, and the diagnostician.”
Lanier added that the sooner suspect diseases are identified, the sooner that scientists and farmers can address the problem with less toxic, less intrusive treatments.
Kansas farmer/rancher Greg Anderson knows the peace of mind that comes with quick diagnosis. In 2006, he noticed an unusual spot in one area of a wheat field.
“We thought maybe I had a bug, maybe Hessian fly,” Anderson said. “They determined pretty quickly that it wasn’t that. It eased my mind. Having that quick diagnosis is worth quite a bit to me.”
Joy Pierzynski
785-532-1340
^In the photo: Lori Sporer, Logan county agent, talks with Greg Anderson and his son Casey about watching for problems in the 2007 wheat crop.
Biosecurity Research Facility Completed
K-State’s Biosecurity Research Institute, housed in the new Pat Roberts Hall, has increased the state’s ability to study and stop foodborne disease outbreaks. K-State Research and Extension scientists will be able to work in “biosafety cabinets” to study plant and animal infectious diseases. The facility’s work has major implications for the state’s multi-billion dollar farm economy, because more than 36,000 Kansas jobs are tied to agriculture or agricultural exports.
Jim Stack
785-532-1388
Wheat Varieties Up Yields
New K-State wheat varieties have helped Kansas farmers achieve an average yield improvement of 0.27 bushels per year. Over the last 29 years, the estimated economic benefit of these improvements is $88.7 million.
Bikram Gill
785-532-1391
Agronomy Celebrates Centennial
The Department of Agronomy observed 100 years of excellence in teaching, research, and extension in 2006. Former and current students and faculty members gathered at the Manhattan campus to celebrate the department’s accomplishments. For more information about the centennial, go to www.agronomy.k-state.edu.