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Soybean rust in Oklahoma means Kansas producers need to monitor
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7/30/2007 11:45 a.m. CDT MANHATTAN, Kan. -- News that soybean rust has been found in several fields in northeast Texas, southwest Arkansas, and most recently south central Oklahoma, means Kansas producers need to be watchful
for the disease, a Kansas State University scientist said.
"This disease has the potential to cause significant soybean yield
losses," said Doug Jardine, who is the K-State Research and Extension
state leader in plant pathology. "The recent rust reports from
Kansas' southern neighbors could mean that it will arrive sooner than
expected in Kansas, so producers need to be vigilant in scouting for
it."
Bryan County, Okla., where a sample was collected on July 13 and
confirmed on July 20, is about 235 miles south of Coffeyville, Kan.,
Jardine said. Since then, the disease has also been detected in
Choctaw County, Okla.
As of July 30, the disease has never been detected in Kansas.
The latest findings in Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma surfaced over
just a two-week period, Jardine said. All of the incidents so far
have been along the Red River.
Kansas State University maintains a network of 20 soybean rust
sentinel plots strategically located across soybean producing areas
of the state. These plots are scouted by county Extension agents and
other university staff and are funded by a combination of USDA funds and soybean checkoff dollars.
Producers and consultants in areas of Kansas generally south of U.S.
Highway 54 and east of U.S. Highway 81, particularly, should begin
actively scouting for soybean rust in fields that have already begun
to bloom, Jardine said.
"To scout for soybean rust, you should arbitrarily collect or observe
a minimum of 100 leaflets from the lower canopy (older, main-stem
terminal leaflets) in each field," the plant pathologist said. "Areas
of the field that may be shaded, especially from the morning sun, are
good places to look for rust. To observe pustules, a minimum 20X hand
lens is needed, but 30X is better. Pustules will be found on the
bottom side of the leaflets and have the appearance of small
volcanoes within the lesion."
Scouting is currently more difficult in many areas of the state due
to the presence of two other similar looking diseases, brown spot and
bacterial blight, Jardine acknowledged.
For further information on the disease's symptoms and photos, Jardine
encourages growers to view a University of Missouri Web site on soybean rust.
Producers or scouts can submit samples of suspect soybean leaves for
evaluation through any county or district cooperative Extension
service offices, Jardine said. He recommended:
Send 10-15 suspect leaves.
Place the leaves in a zip-locked plastic bag, and put that bag in
another zip-locked bag. Seal both bags securely.
Attach a note or write on the outer bag that this is a soybean rust
sample.
Do not add wet paper towels or other types of moisture to the bag.
Try to mail it in the Monday-Wednesday timeframe to avoid the
possibility of the samples spending the weekend in a hot post office
loading area.
"There is no need to apply a fungicide at this time," Jardine said.
"Doing so now may lead to having to make a second application later,
if and when the rust actually arrives."
Soybean growers and industry people can track the spread of soybean
rust on the USDA Legume PIPE Web site at www.sbrusa.net. This site
also contains weekly commentaries from Extension specialists in each
state on crop growth and development, disease progress and scouting
and fungicide application recommendations. Additional information on
soybean rust can be found on the Plant Management Network´s Soybean Rust Information Center.
Source: K-State University news release.
For an easy way to stay informed, sign up for the biweekly Bulletin e-mail newsletter from www.StopSoybeanRust.com. You also will receive our RUST FLASH e-mails alerting you to important breaking news as soon as it occurs. All are archived in Bulletins.
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