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Photograph of spore trap helps explain how researchers are finding spores
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7/8/2005 -- The photo at right is of one of the soybean rust spore traps in place across the Southeast to help determine if rust spores are traveling in the air. Don Hershman, University of Kentucky, sent it out today with this description for those curious about what the traps look like and how they work:
"As you will see in the photograph, the spore trap is on a swivel and has a fin, which keeps it heading into the prevailing wind. Inside, there is a standard microscope slide (on its end and leaning back slightly) that has a 1 x 1-inch area covered with a thin layer of petroleum jelly.
"Anything that passively passes through the spore trap and impacts the layer of petroleum jelly sticks to it. The spore trap is about 6 feet off the ground. All the spore traps being monitored in Kentucky are located on the edge of, or in, a soybean sentinel plot.
"We collect slides once or twice a week and send them to Dr. John Rupe’s laboratory at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Ark. Trained workers in Rupe’s lab manually scan the slides, using a microscope, for spores of the soybean rust fungus."
Network of spore traps in place
In an earlier article based on information supplied by Syngenta Crop protection, we reported:
Using technology developed for rust detection in Brazil and Paraguay, Syntinel™ spore traps are custom-designed traps monitored by trained pathologists to detect rust spores in the area. Spore traps are able to detect spores in the air and collect samples for lab analysis
The Syntinel trap network, sponsored by Syngenta in coordination with each state's university specialists, consists of nearly 100 traps across the country, with an early season emphasis in the southern soybean-growing areas of the United States. By capturing windborne spores, the traps can provide an early alert system of the potential of rust development in a specific area.
Source: E-mail and photo from Don Hershman, Extension plant pathologist, University of Kentucky, 7/8/2005. Article Syngenta discusses spores found in LA Syntinel™ spore trap from 6/23/2005.
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