Soybean Rust Detected Early in Louisiana

On May 8th, 2007, Asian soybean rust was detected on kudzu plants in New Iberia Parish, Louisiana which is west of New Orleans. Although soybean rust was found in this area last year this is the first confirmed report of soybean rust this year in Louisiana and it marks the earliest the disease has been found in the state within a growing season. The conditions in Louisiana ("western front") are much different then those on the "eastern front" in Florida where much of the state continues to be under a severe drought.

Could the Louisiana detection have significant implications to Ontario and Canadian soybean producers? A lot will depend on the environmental conditions from this point on. Every year soybean rust is detected earlier in Louisiana and this year it is 53 days earlier then last year. The recent rains and predictions for further showers in the area would most likely led to more soybean rust developing which could impact soybean producing areas in the mid-western United States and Ontario according to Clayton Hollier, Plant Pathologist with Louisiana State University.

The late spread of soybean rust in 2006 was attributed to rust spores moving from Louisiana up the Mississippi river and into the Ohio River Valley. This followed a prolonged stormy weather that occurred in late September which brought persistent rain showers (favourable weather) into Ontario and the Midwestern United States. Over the course of a few months soybean rust developed over a very large geographical area. The concern for 2007 is if these conditions occur much earlier this year and rust spore (inoculum) production increases this could impact significant soybean acreages in the Northern US and possible Ontario during the crops critical reproductive stages.

Last year soybean rust made it as far north as LaFayette, Indiana (home of Purdue University) which is only 165 miles south of Chicago. Will rust make it farther this year? Time will only tell! What happens in terms of rust buildup (spore production and infection) in the southern US especially Louisiana and Texas over the next two months will be critical for Ontario.

The good news for Ontario and Canadian soybean producers is that the Ontario Soybean Growers, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Agriculture Canada and the Ontario Soybean Rust Coalition have been very proactive in preparing growers for the introduction of this destructive soybean disease. For example some of the educational activities have centered on growers and the soybean industry through ID cards, fungicide manuals and you could expect more products such as a "new" soybean rust management card that will be available this summer. Other efforts have focused on providing effective decision support tools for producers and advisors in order to aid in managing this very destructive disease through the use of sentinel plots, prediction models, and spore trapping systems to name a few.

We will continue to work closely with other stakeholders to help prepare and minimize potential losses to Ontario soybean growers from this new invasive soybean disease. I will continue to have updates in the Crop Pest Ontario newsletter as well as visit the OSG Website at (www.soybean.ca) and the USDA site (www.sbrusa.net) for updates.

Funding for many of the soybean rust projects mentioned above were provided in part through the Canada-Ontario Research and Development (CORD IV) Program administered by the Agricultural Adaptation Council as well as other funding from the AAFC Pest Management Centre, the Ontario Soybean Growers and the Ontario Soybean Rust Coalition.

Related Links

• Ontario Soybean Growers

• United States Department of Agriculture
  
  

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