Rhizoctonia blight, scourge of rice and soybeans, also affecting
corn Rhizoctonia solani AG1-1A, the same pathogen that causes
sheath blight in rice and aerial blight in soybeans, is also
infecting corn in spots along the Arkansas River Valley, said
Rick Cartwright, Extension plant pathologist with the University
of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. Rhizoctonia sheath blight
can rot corn stalks, often associated with other infected leaf
bases and nodes, and may interact with other stalk-rotting
diseases. "I have rarely seen sheath blight at severe enough
levels to cause field-wide yield loss, but I have seen some
yield loss in heavily affected parts of fields due to the loss
of active leaves and sheaths, combined with increased lodging,"
he said. The blight is driven by rotation and is often worse in
rice-soybean-corn rotations with high-yield histories, low
potassium-high nitrogen systems and dense plant populations. "I
have seen it progress up the sheaths to the tassels on isolated
plants, and have noted it