Bill Curran has devoted 18 years to a mystery that’s new to many
of us. As lead scientist for Pioneer’s LaSalle, CO, Goss’s wilt
hybrid development and screening program, he preaches prevention
because there is no remedy. “Hybrid resistance is the key
defense strategy for Goss’s wilt,” Curran advises.He urges
growers to scout fields for unusual lesions, and randomly
stunted or wilted plants. “Send suspicious leaf samples to a
certified university or seed-company laboratory to verify what
you have,” he says. “That part is key because there has
sometimes been an overblown assumption that any leaf damage is
Goss’s wilt,” says University of Minnesota associate professor
of plant pathology Dean Malvick. These days he spends a lot of
time advising crop consultants and growers on Goss’s wilt.
“Everyone wants to know how it became so widespread in two
years. Why has it finally crossed the Missouri River and headed
east after first being found in Nebraska in the 1960s? Found in
Iowa in the early 1980s, why has it re-e