A Coordinated Effort to Manage Soybean Rust in North America: A Success Story in Soybean Disease Monitoring

Abstract

Existing crop monitoring programs determine the incidence and distribution of plant diseases and pathogens and assess the damage caused within a crop production region. These programs have traditionally used observed or predicted disease and pathogen data and environmental information to prescribe management practices that minimize crop loss. Monitoring programs are especially important for crops with broad geographic distribution or for diseases that can cause rapid and great economic losses. Successful monitoring programs have been developed for several plant diseases, including downy mildew of cucurbits, Fusarium head blight of wheat, potato late blight, and rusts of cereal crops. A recent example of a successful disease-monitoring program for an economically important crop is the soybean rust (SBR) monitoring effort within North America. SBR, caused by the fungus Phakopsora pachyrhizi, was first identified in the continental United States in November 2004. SBR causes moderate to severe yield losses globally. The fungus produces foliar lesions on soybean (Glycine max) and other legume hosts. P. pachyrhizi diverts nutrients from the host to its own growth and reproduction. The lesions also reduce photosynthetic area. Uredinia rupture the host epidermis and diminish stomatal regulation of transpiration to cause tissue desiccation and premature defoliation. Severe soybean yield losses can occur if plants defoliate during the mid-reproductive growth stages. The rapid response to the threat of SBR in North America resulted in an unprecedented amount of information dissemination and the development of a real-time, publicly available monitoring and prediction system known as the Soybean Rust-Pest Information Platform for Extension and Education (SBR-PIPE). The objectives of this article are (i) to highlight the successful response effort to SBR in North America, and (ii) to introduce researchers to the quantity and type of data generated by SBR-PIPE. Data from this system may now be used to answer questions about the biology, ecology, and epidemiology of an important pathogen and disease of soybean.

Asian soybean rust in Brazil: past, present, and future

“…Antiferrugem, 2015). Programs to monitor diseases are important for crops with broad geographic distribution or for diseases that can cause rapid and great economic losses, such as potato late blight (Krause et al, 1975), rusts on cereal crops (Verreet et al, 2000), and soybean rust in the United States (Sikora et al, 2014). Public and private labs at universities, farmer cooperatives, Embrapa units, and technical assistance, all inform ASR occurrences through the website.…”

Dissecting the economic impact of soybean diseases in the United States over two decades

“…Therefore, soybean rust had not contributed to a considerable economic damage compared to diseases such as soybean cyst nematode and charcoal rot. The coordinated effort implemented since 2003 through the North Central Regional Association (NCRA, a committee designated NC-504 “Soybean Rust: A New Pest of Soybean Production”) to manage soybean rust in North America could have contributed to reducing the economic losses attributed to soybean rust through carefully implemented management practices as well as the education of individuals that deal with soybean in the allied agriculture industry (Sikora et al 2014)…”

Registration of Four Near‐Isogenic Soybean Lines of G00‐3213 for Resistance to Asian Soybean Rust

“…In controlled studies, fungicide‐treated soybean plots in Georgia and Florida yielded 15 to 55% greater than those not treated with fungicides in the presence of SBR (Mueller et al, 2009). Losses due to SBR have been mitigated through a coordinated monitoring effort of soybean sentinel plots by public and private organizations to establish an early warning system for growers (Isard et al, 2006; Sikora et al, 2014).…”