The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange quantified what was observed in corn lots. In its latest report, it lowered its crop forecast by 2.5 million tonnes due to the leafhopper disease Spiroplasma kunkelii and the February heatwave.
Therefore, the entity now calculates it corn production will be 54 million tons versus the 56.5 million previously forecast, representing a 5% decline.
“The impact of the heat wave suffered during the month of February in the intermediate and late sowings in the center of the agricultural area, added to the increasing incidence and severity of Spiroplasma kunkelii in the late sowings in the center and north of the country, do not allow the achievement of the proposed production projection through last week,” the entity explained.
As specified, the main cuts in the production projection are located in the Central-North of Santa Fe and in the province of Entre Ríos due to the high severity of the aforementioned disease and in the Central-West of Buenos Aires and in the North of the Pampa as a consequence of the stress thermohydric immediately in February.
The cicharrita transmits the bacterium Spiroplasma kunkelii in a persistent and propagative way, causing a disease that has shown a recurrent incidence in the north of the country and in the south of Brazil.
But The plague spread in this last campaign to several productive regions. According to the work of the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange itself, there are approximately 27 departments located in Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, Córdoba, Santiago del Estero, Salta and Tucumán that report the presence of the vector.
However, in the central departments of the province of Santa Fe, Córdoba and Entre Ríos (San Cristóbal, Castellanos, General Obligado, San Justo and Paraná) concern is growing because in previous years the plague had not reached such high levels of proportions like this one. countryside. AS, It is estimated that the potential area with significant damage could amount to 360 thousand hectares..
“The impact of this disease on crop productivity could be very significant. Spiroplasma kunkelii infection can cause symptoms such as stunting of corn, chlorosis on the edges of young leaves, and reddish spots on adult leaves. Male flowers generally do not they are able to produce pollen, depending on the time the infection occurred,” he noted.
From Aapresid they added that the disease is one of the most feared by producers due to its enormous potential for damage performance losses can exceed 70%
“Today There are no strategies with a curative effect on the damage caused by this disease.therefore prevention is the only possible tool to manage it adequately”, underline the technical organisation.
Source: Clarin
