An area DSM was out scouting fields a few weeks back and found some significant problems with Aphanomyces Race 2.  He was in the Dubuque, Iowa area, which is known to be a hot-bed for APH2.  There were several areas in the field that were not as tall or vigorous.  He realized right away that it was likely an issue with APH2, so he dug up plants to see what was going on beneath the plant (APH2 is a soilborne fungus).

The photo above shows “classic” APH2 damage.  The plants to the left show little if any damage while the plants on the right have pretty severe root pruning from APH2 (thus the above ground stunting). 

The field was planted with a non-APH2 alfalfa variety.  If the field had been planted to Enduro Elite there would not have been this problem in this field. Enduro Elite, with StandLife Genetics®, has high resistance to multiple strains of APH2 -  so producers will not have pockets in their fields with less production due to APH2 damage.

If you see pockets of less productive alfalfa in your fields - please dig up some plants and examine the roots.  If they look like what we found above, please consider planting Enduro Elite in the future. 

Here is more information on Aphanomyces Root Rot.