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Asian Rust Found on Kentucky Soybeans
By
Laura Skillman
 PRINCETON,
Ky., (Oct. 11, 2006) – Asian Soybean Rust has been found on
soybeans in western Kentucky. This marks the first time the
disease has been found on soybeans in the state, but its late
arrival will mean no damage to the crop.
Researchers with the University of Kentucky College of
Agriculture confirmed the finds on soybeans in Caldwell,
Christian, Hopkins, Lyon, Marshall, Todd, and Union counties.
“This find will have absolutely no impact on the 2006 soybean
crop in Kentucky or anywhere else for that matter,” said Don
Hershman, UK Extension plant pathologist. “In fact, soybean rust
will "go away" from Kentucky as soon as there is hard frost. It
simply cannot survive this far north.”
These finds are of great importance to the soybean rust
predictive models, he said. So researchers are making a great
effort to know the extent of infection before the frost hits or
until there are no soybean leaves in which the rust can survive.
The disease has not been seen in kudzu in Kentucky this year.
The initial find, on Oct. 6, was in the corner of an otherwise
mature sentinel plot located at the UK Research and Education
Center in Princeton, said Don Hershman, UK Extension plant
pathologist. Incidence was about 40 to 50 percent and severity
around 10 percent. Then, between Oct. 8 and Oct. 10, rust was
detected at various levels in the six additional counties. All
of the finds, thus far, are in the lakes region of western
Kentucky.
The finds were in "mobile plots" except for the Caldwell County
and Union County finds, which were in sentinel plots. Incidence
and severity of the disease was generally low.
“For all finds, the stage of pustules was mostly uniform. This
suggests to me that a large number of spores blew in sometime
over the past two weeks and cut a pretty large swath in west
Kentucky,” Hershman said. “We are in the process of looking to
the west and east to see if an even larger area of spore
deposition and infection may have occurred.”
Rust has also been found in soybeans in Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina
and Texas. In Kentucky, 20 sites in 17 counties are being
monitored for the disease on either kudzu or soybeans.
The fungal disease had been found in all major soybean growing
areas of the world except the United States until its discovery
in November 2004. Officials believe spores of the disease may
have been carried into the area by hurricane winds. The disease
poses potentially devastating losses in soybean yields, but it
poses no risk to human health.
Since that discovery, crop and disease specialists across the
soybean growing region have been working to understand how the
disease develops and its impact on the crop. They have also been
educating producers, field scouts, agricultural suppliers and
others about this new threat.
“The bottom line is this: the soybean rust finds will not impact
soybeans in Kentucky or the U.S. this year,” Hershman said.
“But, they will help us to refine soybean rust predictive
models, which will help greatly with soybean rust management in
future crops.”
Up-to-date information on soybean rust in Kentucky and across
the country can be found on the Internet at
http://www.sbrusa.net or by
calling 888-321-6771.
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Contact: Don Hershman, 270-365-7541, ext. 215 |
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The UK College
of Agriculture, through its land-grant mission, reaches across
the commonwealth with teaching, research and extension
to enhance the lives of Kentuckians. |
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Copyright © 2001-2006 University of Kentucky, College of Agriculture,
Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service |
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