How do I identify Fusarium Wilt in canola?
Symptoms are similar to drought stress, since infected plants may be stunted, discoloured and exhibit poor seed set. Fusarium wilt causes a discolouration of the stem, often seen as purple, grey or brown streaks starting from the foot region and moving up the plant. Only one side of the plant or only a few branches may be showing symptoms. One of the ways to determine if it is Fusarium wilt is to scrape or cut away the epidermis to look for dark streaks in the vascular tissue running up and down the stem. Often, the infected plants will die prematurely and yield can be greatly reduced. You can differentiate Fusarium wilt from other canola diseases because roots of affected plants will remain intact, unlike with root rot, and there will be no cankers on the stem base or lodging as with blackleg, or bleaching and shredding of the stems as with sclerotinia rot.
