Bob Harveson - Extension Plant Pathologist, Panhandle Research and Extension Center

Bean plants
Bean plants in the bacterial isolate research study.

Identifying and Characterizing Bacterial Isolates from the Stratosphere

May 4, 2023
Panhandle researchers were recently awarded USDA specialty crop block grants to study new copper alternative chemical products on fungal and bacterial diseases of dry beans, cowpeas, chickpeas and dry peas.

Read more

Cercospora leaf spot

A Plant Disease Changes Sugarbeet Production in Nebraska

March 29, 2023
A review of the impacts cercospora leaf spot has had on sugarbeet production in Nebraska since the early 1900s.

Read more

Cercospora
Cercospora on a sugarbeet plant.

Cercospora Leaf Spot Detected in Sugarbeets

July 29, 2022
Periods of high humidity or extended leaf wetness and warm temperatures create the optimal conditions for cercospora leaf spot to develop.

Read more

Microscopic fungal pathogens
This photo illustrates growth differences of two fungal pathogens and how they are identified from the Disease Index. Characteristic hyphal growth in culture of Aphanymyces cochliodes (right) and Rhizoctonia solani (left) emerging from infected seedlings plated at the same time in the plant pathology lab.

Soil Disease Index, Tool for Managing Sugarbeet Diseases, Available for Growers

December 13, 2021
Since 2003, the UNL Panhandle Research and Extension Center has offered a pre-plant soil test to producers who need to identify soilborne sugarbeet pathogens in fields that will be planted to sugarbeets.

Read more

Ranger alfalfa plants

Additional Gram-positive Bacterial Diseases in Nebraska Crop Production

May 11, 2021
A review of two lesser-known diseases caused by Gram-positive bacterial pathogens that have been observed in Nebraska — bacterial wilt of alfalfa and bacterial mosaic of wheat.

Read more

Sugar beets with root disease
These sugarbeets demonstrate symptoms of a root disease characteristic of the wet-rot disease.

Sugarbeets: Source of the First Gram-Positive Bacterial Disease in Nebraska

March 10, 2021
Nebraska Extension Plant Pathologist Bob Harveson discusses the origins and impact of Gram-positive bacterial pathogens to Nebraska agriculture.

Read more

Diseased chickpea plant
A close-up view of Ascochyta blight in chickpea, showing symptoms on pods and dead leaves.

New Chickpea Disease Study Will Begin in 2021

January 29, 2021
With chickpea demand on the rise, UNL researchers are digging into a fungal disease issue that has long-prevented the crop's commercial growth in Nebraska. 

Read more

Lesions on sugar beet leaves.
Young lesions of the pathogen forming on sugar beet leaves.

Cercospora Leaf Spot Detected in the Panhandle

July 22, 2020
On July 13, symptoms characteristic of Cercospora leaf spot (CLS) were found on lower leaves of sugarbeets from research plots at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center at Scottsbluff.

Read more