Crop Updates / News and Information
| 08/02/06 | ALERT: MS reports first ASR in kudzu and soybeans
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| Submitted by: Denise Wright
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| ALERT: Mississippi reports first soybean rust in kudzu, soybeans By Marilyn Cummins, Editor StopSoybeanRust.com 8/2/2006 10 p.m. CDT -- Soybean rust has been found for the first time this year in Mississippi, in soybeans and on kudzu in Jefferson County on the Louisiana border. This becomes the 28th U.S. county positive for rust in 2006 and expands the affected states to six: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. The Mississippi state commentary posted tonight on the USDA PIPE Web site said "rust was heavy on kudzu in an area about 30-feet in diameter. However, rust was difficult to find in soybeans." Scouting continues in production fields, sentinel plots and alternative hosts, the commentary said. Mississippi sentinel plot growth stages range from R3 to R7. Mississippi is recommending that some growers consider a fungicide application. Specifically, the commentary said tonight, "Producers in the SW portion of the state that have soybeans that are in reproductive growth stage R5.5 or a younger reproductive stage, need to consider application of a fungicide, particular a triazole or a mix. Soybeans in our major growing areas in North Mississippi and the Delta have nothing to be concerned about at this time. "It's been hot and extremely dry in those areas, unfavorable for rust development. Scouting will continue, and these management suggestions will be modified based on the scouting results and weather conditions." The last reported rust find before this one was also in a Jefferson County -- the one in north-central Florida, in a soybean sentinel plot. The USDA national commentary recaps that: "Currently, rust has been found on this year's soybeans in eight different counties in five states (AL,FL,GA,LA,MS), the rest of the finds have been on kudzu. A total of 28 counties have reported rust this year: five in Alabama, 13 in Florida, five in Georgia, three in Louisiana, one in Mississippi and one in Texas. "Spore trapping continues throughout the U.S. using both active and passive traps. Any positive spore trap information does not imply infection has taken place and plant samples are used exclusively for recording positive rust occurrence," USDA said. "Dry to very dry conditions have prevailed in the spore-source regions, and movement to new areas has been slow." Mississippi was one of the first states to identify an Asian soybean rust infection when the fungus first arrived in the continental United States in November, 2004. Rust was found on soybeans in Adams County -- the next county south of Jefferson County -- Nov. 16, 2004. In 2005, the first soybean rust in Mississippi was located on a single leaf pulled July 13 from a soybean sentinel plot in George County in southeast Mississippi. The state's only other infected county last year was Pearl River County, about two counties south of Jefferson County, about this time last year -- Aug. 5, 2005. Source: Mississippi state commentary on the USDA PIPE Web site; www.StopSoybeanRust.com archives.
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