Research must focus on management of diseases that cause extensive losses, especially when funds for research are limited. Knowledge of yield suppression caused by various soybean diseases is essential when prioritizing research. The objective of this project was to compile estimates of soybean yield suppression due to diseases in the USA from 1996 to 2007. The goal was to provide information to help funding agencies and scientists prioritize research objectives and budgets. Yield suppression due to individual diseases varied among years. Soybean cyst nematode suppressed USA soybean yield more from 1996 to 2007 than any other disease. Phytophthora root and stem rot ranked second among diseases that most suppressed yield seven of 12 years. Seedling diseases and charcoal rot also suppressed soybean yield during these years. Research and extension efforts must be expanded to provide more preventive and therapeutic disease management strategies for producers to reduce disease suppression of soybean yield. Accepted for publication 25 February 2009. Published 1 April 2009.

Research must focus on management of diseases that cause extensive losses, especially when funds for research are limited. Knowledge of the losses caused by various soybean diseases is essential when prioritizing research budgets. The objective of this project was to compile estimates of soybean yield potential losses caused by diseases for each soybean producing state in the United States from 2006 to 2009. This data is of special interest since the 4-year period summarized in this report, permits an examination of the impact of soybean rust that was first reported in the United States in 2004. Thus, in addition to the goal of providing this information to aid funding agencies and scientists in prioritizing research objectives and budgets, an examination of the impact of soybean rust on soybean yield losses relative to other diseases is warranted. Yield losses caused by individual diseases varied among states and years. Soybean cyst nematode caused more yield losses than any other disease during 2006 to 2009. Seedling diseases, Phytophthora root and stem rot, sudden death syndrome, Sclerotinia stem rot, and charcoal rot ranked in the top six of diseases that caused yield loss during these years. Soybean yield losses due to soybean rust and Sclerotinia stem rot varied greatly over years, especially when compared to other diseases. Accepted for publication 21 October 2010. Published 22 November 2010.

Annual decreases in soybean (Glycine max L. Merrill) yield caused by diseases were estimated by surveying university-affiliated plant pathologists in 28 soybean-producing states in the United States and in Ontario, Canada, from 2010 through 2014. Estimated yield losses from each disease varied greatly by state or province and year. Over the duration of this survey, soybean cyst nematode (SCN) (Heterodera glycines Ichinohe) was estimated to have caused more than twice as much yield loss than any other disease. Seedling diseases (caused by various pathogens), charcoal rot (caused by Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid), and sudden death syndrome (SDS) (caused by Fusarium virguliforme O’Donnell & T. Aoki) caused the next greatest estimated yield losses, in descending order. The estimated mean economic loss due to all soybean diseases, averaged across U.S. states and Ontario from 2010 to 2014, was $60.66 USD per acre. Results from this survey will provide scientists, breeders, governments, and educators with soybean yield-loss estimates to help inform and prioritize research, policy, and educational efforts in soybean pathology and disease management.

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Early researchers identified key concepts and developed tactics for multiple-option management of nematodes. Although the emphasis on integrated pest management over the past three decades has promoted strategies and tactics for nematode management, comprehensive studies on the related soil biology-ecology are relatively recent. Traditional management tactics include host resistance (where available), cultural tactics such as rotation with nonhosts, sanitation and avoidance, and destruction of residual crop roots, and the judicious use of nematicides. There have been advances in biological control of nematodes, but field-scale exploitation of this tactic remains to be realized. New technologies and resources are currently becoming central to the development of sustainable systems for nematode-pest-crop management: molecular diagnostics for nematode identification, genetic engineering for host resistance, and the elucidation and application of soil biology for general integrated cropping systems. The latter strategy includes the use of nematode-pest antagonistic cover crops, animal wastes, and limited tillage practices that favor growth-promoting rhizobacteria, earthworms, predatory mites, and other beneficial organisms while suppressing parasitic nematodes and other plant pathogens. Certain rhizobacteria may induce systemic host resistance to nematodes and, in some instances, to foliage pathogens. The systems focusing on soil biology hold great promise for sustainable crop-nematode management, but only a few research programs are currently involved in this labor-intensive endeavor.