Sunflower Downy mildew – race characterization and territory monitoring
Sunflower downy mildew (caused by Plasmopara halstedii) is a disease that can survive in the soil for up to 10 years even without crops of sunflowers. Downy mildew is known to be highly adaptable and to overcome certain resistance genes and to date, at least 17 races have been identified in France. For more than 20 years, GEVES has been involved in the monitoring of the territory by characterizing the races present in the different French regions and since a few years in Europe within a regulatory framework and as a service for the sunflower industry.
The 2023 campaign will start in the next few weeks depending on the weather conditions. GEVES is ready, as of now, to receive samples from the plots identified with the presence of downy mildew for analysis on the 11 differential host varieties in order to identify the race or races responsible for the attacks. A sampling and sending protocol is available at contact@geves.fr.
