Root Rots of Wheat, Oats, Rye, Barley

The root rots of wheat, oats, barley, and rye are among the least conspicuous diseases of cereals, but they are among the most destructive. They are caused by many species of fungi, which are widespread and live on or in seed, soil, and dead plant refuse. They attack a large number of hosts and thrive under a wide range of conditions. To the many types of root rots in cereal crops many names have been given—seedling blight, take-all, root rot, basal stem rot, foot rot, snow mold, Victoria blight, the helminthosporium blight, stein break. I use the term root rot here to include all diseases that affect roots and basal portions of the culms, although occasionally I refer to special types of root rot. Root rots of cereals were prevalent in the United States many years ago, but they did not attract attention until about igoo. H. L. Bolley in North Dakota in 1909 emphasized the importance of root rots on cereals in the United States. He proved that the root rots of wheat were caused by several fungi that accumulated in the soil, particularly if crop rotation was not practiced. He attributed the unproductiveness of certain wheat lands in the Northwest to root rots, instead of depleted soil fertility or to toxins. The discovery of wheat rosette (a virus disease) in Illinois in 1919, originally attributed to root rot fungi, and the severe outbreak of root rots