DURHAM, N.C., July 2 -- North Carolina State University issued the following press release:
A few years ago, Austin Wrenn noticed something unsettling in his strawberry greenhouses at Wrenn's Farm in Zebulon, North Carolina. He was one of the first growers in the state to experience losses from an unexpected, aggressive fungal pathogen known as Neopestalotiopsis, or Neo-P.
"Strawberries, I always say, love to die," Wrenn explains. "They will find any way they can to die, and our job as growers and researchers is to prevent that."
For North Carolina's strawberry industry, Neo-P has become one of those ways that these fruit plants can easily die.
Once a minor, opportunistic fungus, Neo-P has emerged as a significant threat.
A Global Inva...