For the first time this season, Louisiana State University AgCenter specialists have found Asian soybean rust in soybeans. The disease was discovered in a sentinel plot on the Dean Lee Research Station south of Alexandria, La.
“A lady checking the sentinel plots on a weekly basis brought the samples to (LSU AgCenter plant pathologist) Clayton Hollier (Wednesday, July 26) morning,” said David Lanclos, LSU AgCenter soybean specialist. “The samples were pulled (on Tuesday, July 25). Clayton checked them over and called me this morning shortly after 9 a.m. and said, ‘ASR is in your backyard.’ So, now it’s on to the next phase of recommendations.”
As for new recommendations, the pathologists “are working to get a set finalized. If you’ve got yield to protect and your soybeans are between R-1 and R-5, you may want to consider a triazole and/or a protectant — because there are many tank-mixes that contain strobilurins as well as triazoles. Regardless, now is the time to start seriously considering putting a fungicide out.”
Until the sentinel plot discovery, the only ASR found in the state had been in kudzu patches.
e-mail: dbennett@farmpress.com
