This year BYDV is evident in both winter and spring crops despite many farmers’ best efforts trying to control aphids which spread the virus.  

On this week’s Tillage Edge podcast, Dr Louise McNamara, an entomologist from Teagasc, Oak Park, Carlow discussed the virus spread and what makes this year different to other years.

Yield reduction in crops is likely where there is a large BYDV infection but Louise said that the extent of the yield loss depends on how early the crop was infected and also the type of BYDV strain infecting the plant.  

Counts so far this year revealed that infected tillers did not exceed 8% of total tillers, which in previous research was classed as a low infection resulting in minimal yield loss.

For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:

https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/

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