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New research developed to find early signs of tar spot

The founder and CEO of Insignum AgTech has partnered with Purdue University to develop new technology that could help farmers detect tar spot earlier in corn.  

Kyle Mohler says DNA that is already present in corn plants will react to a newly developed gene that would cause the leaves to form purple spots at the site of the infection to reveal tar spot an early stage.  

“We reached out to some professors at Purdue who can handle tar spot in the greenhouse,” he says. “Testing how our technology responds to tar spot in controlled conditions and then also can we image those can we detect that purple color on those leaf.”

He tells Brownfield tar spot has become increasingly more problematic.

“We’re still trying to figure out what are the best ways to control it,” he says. “How does it spread? What are the conditions that really favor that disease? The more information that we can gather about the tar spot, the better able we’re going to be able to prevent a yield loss from this disease.”

Mohler says many U.S. corn varieties aren’t resistant to tar spot and by 2023, it was the most damaging pathogen to corn in the country. 

He says the collaboration is supported by grants from the Indiana Corn Marketing Council and a voucher from the state of Indiana and will run through the end of 2024.