Plant Pathology
The Langdon Research Extension Center's (LREC) Plant Pathology program is administered by Dr. Venkataramana Chapara. The program has a Research Specialist, Amanda Arens, and 3-4 seasonal employees.
Dr. Venkataramana Chapara, Assistant Research Professor, has over 20 years of experimental research experience on a wide variety of crops including field, greenhouse and laboratory research. He specializes in researching soil borne pathogens such as Phytophthora, Pythium, Sclerotinia, Plasmodiophora, Fusarium, and Rhizoctonia as well as many foliar pathogens. Dr. Chapara has extension and teaching experience through guest lectures, grower/producer talks, workshops, and conference presentations. He serves as a committee member for graduate students in the NDSU Department of Plant Pathology in Fargo, ND as an adjunct faculty.
Dr. Chapara's plant pathology research program evaluates and implements disease management strategies to limit crop yield and quality loss from plant diseases in northeastern North Dakota on eight economically valuable crops. In recent years, the prevalence and severity of clubroot in canola in NE ND led their focus on this incurable disease. They have made many discoveries and received international recognition for their research.
Amanda Arens, Research Specialist, has 10+ years of plant pathology experience at the LREC. She assists Dr. Chapara in all plant pathology research.
Plant Pathology Research Results:
Soil Sampling to Quantify Clubroot Spores from Soil in North Dakota Form
