DURING THE summer of 2017, a new race of the Fusarium wilt fungus (Fusarium oxy-sporum f. sp. vasinfectum) infecting cotton was confirmed in many fields in El Paso and Hudspeth counties. This particular variant is known as "race 4" (FOV4). Previously, FOV4 was limited to the San Joaquin Valley of California.With plant pathogens, a race is defined as the ability to cause, or not cause, disease in particular varieties of the host plant. For many plant diseases that are controlled primarily through host resistance, the occurrence of a new race requires even more work by plant breeders to develop new resistant varieties.
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