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ALERT: Ten new counties with soybean rust detected in Alabama
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10/24/05 Update 4:22 p.m. -- Soybean rust was detected in 10 new counties in Alabama after a survey of roadside kudzu patches and late-season soybean fields was conducted along the eastern edge of the state on October 21 and 22.
Ed Sikora, Extension plant pathologist at Auburn University, gave the following report in the Alabama state commentary:
"Soybean rust was detected in eight of the 16 randomly selected patches surveyed. The kudzu patches were approximately 50-100 meters in length. Rust incidence was relatively low in seven of the eight positive kudzu sites. The counties where rust-infected kudzu was found included: Bullock (2 sites), Barbour, Russell, Chambers, Randolph, Clay and Marshall.
"Rust was also detected in three relatively small commercial soybean fields in Cherokee, DeKalb and Etowah counties in northeast Alabama. Fields ranged in size from two to 20 acres. The fields were nearly dried-down and were ready for harvest. Soybean rust was detected on a few plants that still had green leaves at the edge of the fields.
"It did not appear that rust had reduced yields, as infection likely occurred late in the season. Fungicides were used in at least one of the three soybean fields observed.
"Two soybean-rust-positive commercial soybean fields and a large kudzu patch were revisited in southeast Alabama on October 21," Sikora said. "Soybean rust had been detected at all three sites previously. It did not appear that the disease had significantly reduced yields in either soybean field. We still have not determined if fungicides were used in these fields.
"The previously reported rust-infected kudzu patch in Pike County was now heavily infected with rust. This "patch" is approximately 10 acres in size. Soybean rust has now been found in 26 counties in Alabama. The disease has been observed in 13 commercial soybean fields, 10 soybean sentinel plots and 12 kudzu patches around the state."
Fungicide use in AL soybeans may be up from 5 percent to 50 percent of acres
(New in this version): Sikora added in an e-mail to fellow sentinel plot contacts, "Other than a one-acre field in Baldwin County, we have been unable to document any significant yield losses due to the disease in 2005 in Alabama.
"I would guess that fungicide usage has increased from less than 5 percent of the acreage in 2004 to more than 50 percent this year," Sikora said.
Asian soybean rust has now been confirmed in 84 counties in the southeastern United States in 2005.
For contrast: This is how the Alabama rust observation map last looked before the new 10 counties confirmed 10/21 and 10/22 were added to the observation map. Some were previously coded white for "not scouted," and some were green for being previously scouted but clean.
Source: Alabama state commentary on www.sbrusa.net for story posted at 11:30 a.m. Updated information came from an e-mail from Ed Sikora to fellow soybean-rust sentinel plot contacts.
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