The spread of Asian soybean rust hit Mississippi recently, now, Arkansas is the latest victim. Following the Mississippi discovery, rust of low severity has been discovered in South Arkansas in Chicot County.The Arkansas discovery is less than 50 miles from the where the rust was discovered in Mississippi and the two discovery sites are on almost the same latitude. Arkansas has roughly 3.5 million acres of soybeans state-wide. 1.5 million acres are dedicated to late-planted soybeans, so if the rust moves north about a third of the crop could be damaged.
However, as Scott Monfort, an Arkansas Extension plant pathologist, explains in David Bennett’s article about the outbreak in the Delta Farm Press, the low severity of the outbreak is encouraging and soybean farmers should focus on other pests and diseases before worrying about soybean rust. Much of the soybean crop shouldn’t be harmed because they have reached full maturity. Additionally, the incidence rate is very low, ‘“less than 1% severity,”’ according to Monfort. Since the incidence rate is so low there has not been a recommendation made for application of fungicides to combat the rust.
Monfort requests all samples be sent to the diagnostic labs in Lonoke or Monticello for testing. In the meantime, Monfort will keep investigating the prevalence of the rust and where it might be moving.
To read the Bennett article click here.
Posted: 08/12/09
