Crop Clinic

Spring crops have been stressed due to cold spring and some are poorly tillered, solook for leaf yellowing maybe associated with poor nutrient uptake.

Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus (BYDV) can also show up as leaf tip yellowing, but is more common on the tips of the upper leaves. It is too late to take action now against this aphid transmitted disease.

Affected spring barley crops have  plants showing BYDV symptoms randomly scattered through the crop. The leaf tips of the middle and upper leaves are bright yellow. The lower part of the same leaves are green and healthy.

BYDV is spread by aphids and the pattern seen suggests infection took place via aphids on the wing. Since plants generally show good adult resistance, these crops would have been affected when the crop was at seedling stage. However, aphid traps were not  picking up aphids in flight until early May.  It is possible late April sown crops would have been vulnerable at this stage. BYDV is not seed borne.