b'This first step is finding these kind-ofof natural infestations to observe theREMINDER: HOW TOanchor points to give us a more specificcrops genetic tolerances.area to look, Thompson says. It could beWeve tested products in the tar spotIDENTIFY TAR SPOT that marker, that gene or it could just behotbed of northern Indiana, western something thats nearby. Its just an arrowMichigan, northern Illinois and southwestTar spot is caused by the Phyllachora maydis fungus that tells you where to look; not quiteWisconsin, Wilkens says. Weve foundand has key identifying characteristics that differ definitive yet. commercial and pre-commercial prod- from common U.S. disease such as gray leaf spot, Itll help researchers narrow downucts that do really well with it.their options while screening and possi- In terms of public research, ThompsonNorthern corn leaf blight and rust.bly shorten the time it takes to backcrossand the team she works with will soonFirst, look for black spots on the leaves and husks. tolerance into current genetics. finalize their results and share them. ThisThese hard, black spots can (but dont always) have could help catapult genetic tolerancea tan halo, according to Michigan State University Next Steps to the next level because of potential Research is ongoing, from the universitymolecular markers. Extension. These are called fish-eye lesions.level to independent companies, fromWe have to remember, this is justThe tar spots are reproductive structures that create finding fungicide efficacy ratings toa new disease to the U.S., not a newand spread thousands of spores. The spores can evaluating current and upcoming genet- disease, Thompson says. Theres been ics. Its not without challenges, though. quite a bit of breeding for it already inand do overwinter in the black spots to be released Right now, we dont have a goodtropical varieties. We just need to findthe following season. Right now, there is no way to uniformly inoculate hybrids wea way to get some of that into relevantnoticeable benefit to rotating to soybeans, however, want to test for this disease; we rely ongenetics. as the spores can be airborne.field inoculation, Meis explains. ArtificialHowever, the tropical options are more inoculation technology has been elusive,difficult to work with than the U.S. publicResearchers at MSU have found tar spot as early as so were opportunistically taking ratingsvarieties they examined. Regardless ofJuly in some seasons. However, they recommend in fields. where any potential tolerance comesagronomists start scouting around silking at As research continues, developing anfrom, itll take a few years to get inte- minimum.inoculum will enable more uniform test- grated into current genetics.SWing. For now, many are taking advantage GENERATION SEED MANAGEMENT SOFTWAREGenWARE inventory management app directly connects warehouse activity with the rest of the operations in your seed business so that you can improve shipping accuracy, timeliness, productivity and customer service.GenWARE, has saved so much time and solved a lot of problems in the shipping process, it is user friendly and well loved by the users.Our next step is to roll out the app across our other warehouse locations. It has made a huge improvement to our warehouse processes and how we effectively communicate and update the deliveries internally, to our carriers and our customers.West Gaines Seed, IncSPEAK TO A SPECIALIST TODAY Phone +1 800 366 2474Email primeticsseed@culturatech.comVisitprimeticsseed.com128/ SEEDWORLD.COMDECEMBER 2021'