A comprehensive national effort among 30 industry and academic entities led by Texas A&M is gaining ground in the battle against rose rosette.
The disease has claimed an estimated $40-$50 million in rose industry losses alongside thousands of jobs, researchers said.
The team has tracked the disease across the U.S., developed new diagnostic tools and expedited breeding with hundreds of new molecular markers.
Since the project’s beginning in 2014, part of its $4.6 million grant helped establish https://roserosette.org. The website serves to track disease distribution, said Dr. Kevin Ong, director of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service’s Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab in College Station. It is also a clearinghouse for educational rosette information.
Pathologists have verified more than 2,100 rose rosette occurrences in about 30 states through user photo submissions to the website so far.