A zone of bright yellow tissue usually surrounds the dark brown centres. Heavily infected leaves may wither and die. Infected seed is usually smaller and shrivelled and may have a pinkish coloration. Yield reductions result from loss of photosynthetic area, especially if flag leaves and heads are infected. Following high levels of disease, kernel weight may be lighter with a possible grade reduction for shrivelled and off-color seeds.
Diagnosis Use the barley scald assessment procedure.
Management Strategy Follow a crop rotation that includes barley and oats, which are not good hosts of this disease or non-host crops such as canola, flax, corn, potatoes and alfalfa. Turn under wheat residue. This will reduce the amount of surface straw that can produce air-borne spores during the growing season. Do not plant winter wheat on land adjacent to spring wheat that was infected with tan spot. Where economically practical, apply Tilt, which is registered for control of this disease.