The SDSU Small Grains and Biomass-Grass Pathology program at South Dakota State University is directed by Dr. Jeff Stein, a plant pathologist and faculty member of the Plant Science Department. The research conducted by his program focuses on the fungal pathogens of economic importance to the major small grain cereals in South Dakota (winter and spring wheat, barley, & oats). The program also recently expanded in scope and now conducts research on the fungal pathogens of the native grasses being domesticated by the SDSU Forage Production team (e.g. Prairie Cordgrass). This latter effort is currently focused on identifying what pathogens are present and could become an issue under future cellulosic ethanol cropping systems. A major revision of this site was initiated in April (2008) and some of the pages might look different, or even be missing. We have expanded our Diseases & Research topic section to provide some basic information on the diseases under investigation by the program.
Please note that we no longer house the SD Wheat and Barley Scab Advisory as this activity is now under the direction of Dr. Larry Osborne, Extension Plant Pathologist at SDSU.