Upon wheat harvest, growers must make plans for the coming crop year. If a field is quarantined and the grower still wants to plant a winter grain and/or forage crop, choices would include oat, barley and cereal rye. If in a regulated area but not a quarantined field, this would leave the options open for wheat and triticale as well as oat, barley and rye. Be especially conscientious about using best management practices in regulated areas. Best management practices to reduce the potential for contamination from Karnal bunt would include:

• Purchase and plant only high quality, conditioned seed that is inspected or from an area known to be free of the disease.

• Use an effective seed treatment fungicide at planting

• Plant ryegrass, wheat grass, rye, oats or barley rather than wheat or triticale in infested fields or those in question.

• Prevent infestation by using only equipment known to be free of the disease (includes tillage, planting and harvest equipment). Thorough steam cleaning may be required to prevent the spread of the disease from infested fields.

• Make certain that animals grazing wheat fields have not previously been in infected fields or been fed with infected wheat or triticale grain or hay.

• Don't import hay from infected or suspected fields, either your own or from elsewhere.