Soybean Rust Found in North Carolina

Bob Mulrooney, Extension Plant Pathologist; bobmul@udel.edu

Steve Koenning, Extension field crops pathologist reported that “Asiatic soybean rust has been identified this morning (8/30) from a research plot at Kinston, NC, in Lenoir County. There were none to very few pustules on any of the leaves inspected, and none were sporulating. We are not sure how the spores got there, or where they came from, since the nearest rust that has been reported so far has been is southern Georgia, and that is 270 (Murphy, NC) to 570 (Elizabeth City, NC) miles away from our North Carolina soybeans.” It was confirmed today by ELISA testing that the rust that was found is Asiatic soybean rust.

This is unusual and not at all in line with the prediction models that have been issued so far. We will continue to monitor this find and see what happens, but with the hot dry weather the spread of any soybean rust is highly unlikely. Most of our soybeans are mature enough that this find should have no impact on DE soybean production. We will see what the current hurricanes might bring us but the amount of soybean rust in the South right now has been the lowest since this monitoring effort began.

To see the ipmPIPE website for more information on soybean rust see: http://sbrusa.net/.