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NC504: Soybean Rust: A New Pest of Soybean Production

Duration:
January 01, 2003 to September 30, 2004
Administrative Advisor(s):
Steven A. Slack (OHO)
NIFA Reps:

Statement of Issue(s) and Justification:

Soybean rust is a serious disease causing crop losses in other parts of the world. It has not yet been detected in the continental United States, but the fact that it is principally spread by wind-borne spores indicates it may eventually reach major soybean growing areas in this country. Soybean rust is caused by two fungal species, Phakopsora pachyrhizi, an aggressive pathogen, and Phakopsora meibomiae, a weak pathogen. P. pachyrhizi has spread in the past ten years to Zimbabwe, South Africa, Paraguay, and Brazil causing severe damage. Yield losses have been reported from 10-80%. APHIS listed P. pachyrhizi in the Federal Register on August 12, 2002, as one of nine agents or toxins potentially posing a severe threat to plant health or plant products in the U.S. The appearance of a new pathogen on a key U.S. commodity raises a whole series of questions. Farmers want to know if it poses a direct threat, not only for the crop in the year it appears, but also for the future. The arrival of P. pachrhizi to the United States soybean production areas is anticipated and could cause large crop and economic losses to growers. Resistant varieties are still in development, but there are effective fungicides being used in other countries. It is not currently known which of the fungicides, current registrations and future registration, may be effective on soybean rust in the U.S. Growers, Extension personnel, researchers, etc., also need to know how to identify soybean rust so rapid detection can occur.

Types of Activities:

With an invading pest there is a tremendous need for information on the biology of the pest in its new environment, its distribution across the soybean production areas, etc. This project will focus on identifying information needs and coordinating research, education and extension across states and regions. Activities will involve scientists not only from states in the North Central Region but also from states in other regions which will probably incur soybean rust first. Coordination is critical, because there is a great pressure in each state for action and also from USDA agencies. This can best be accomplished through a NC-500 series project and including states from other regions. Initial objects are given in the following statement. It is expected that the initial meeting of the group, to be announced, will further elaborate these objectives and potentially propose additional objectives.

Objectives

  1. Develop survey procedures.
  2. Develop education materials for soybean rust identification.
  3. Identify potential impact of soybean rust to soybean.
  4. Identify and evaluate tactics for soybean rust control, and communicate results with the user community.
  5. Identify and prioritize information and research needs. Add specificity to objectives 1-4.

Expected Outputs, Outcomes and/or Impacts:

The initial output will be education materials to hand out to growers, commodity groups, consultants,scouts, etc., on identification of soybean rust. A second probable outcome would be a pest management and control advisory for the 2003 production season. Finally, there would be a prioritized list of information and research needs with a potential list of collaborators.

List of Participants:
Include a completed Appendix E.

Literature Cited:

Kuchler,F., Duffy, R.,Shrum, R., and Dowler, W. 1984. Potential economic consequences of the entry of an exotic fungal pest: The case of soybean rust. Phytopathology 74(8):916-920.

Yang, X. B., Dowler, W. M. and Royer, M. H. 1991. Assessing the risk and potential impact of an exotic plant disease. Plant Disease 75(10):976-982.

Yang, X. B., Tschanz, A. T., Dlowler, W. M. and Wang, T. C. 1991. Development of yield loss models in relation to reduction of components of soybean infected with Phakopsora pachyrhizi. Phytopathology 81:1420-1426.

Duffy, R. Control of exotic pests: Forecasting economic impacts. USDA/ERS Agricultural Economic Report #518. August 1984.

Strategic Plan to Minimize the Impact of the Introduction and Establishment of Soybean Rust (Phakopsora pachyrhizi, P. meibomiae) on Soybean Production in the United States. USDA/APHIS/PPQ. September 2002. This can be found at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/ep/pestdetection/soybean_rust/sbrplan1106.pdf

Attachments:

none

Internal Linkages:

External Linkages:

Signatures:

Sig of Exec Director Daryl Lund
s:/Steven A. Slack

Last Modified: unknown

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