The risk is increasing: Dry climate diseases are coming to us

Drought is a serious factor in sunflower production, requiring the efforts of both breeders and phytopathologists to address it. The introduction of tropical conditions in the cultivation of the oilseed crop leads to a number of problems. In addition to reduced yields due to drought, scientists from the Dobrudja Agricultural Institute have observed more massive manifestations of dry climate diseases. "One such disease is Rhizopus. That is the name of the pathogen. It is precisely a disease of the dry climate. Over the past two years, I have observed a fairly serious attack. Literally, the heads dry out and become corky. They become hard, the seeds inside are sterile, the seed is empty, and there is absolutely no yield," says Chief Ass. Maria Petrova, a phytopathologist at the Institute near General Toshevo. The scientist says that another tropical danger has been identified in the fields - macrophomina. "The pathogen requires very hot weather and moisture, as in tropical ...