NC504: Soybean Rust: A New Pest of Soybean Production
(Rapid Response to Emerging Issue Activity)
Status: Inactive/Terminating
NC504: Soybean Rust: A New Pest of Soybean Production
Duration: 01/01/2003 to 09/30/2004
Administrative Advisor(s):
NIFA Reps:
Non-Technical Summary
Statement of Issues and Justification
Soybean rust is a serious disease causing crop losses in other parts of the world. It has not yet been
detected in the continental United States, but the fact that it is principally spread by wind-borne
spores indicates it may eventually reach major soybean growing areas in this country. Soybean rust is
caused by two fungal species, Phakopsora pachyrhizi, an aggressive pathogen, and Phakopsora
meibomiae, a weak pathogen. P. pachyrhizi has spread in the past ten years to Zimbabwe, South
Africa, Paraguay, and Brazil causing severe damage. Yield losses have been reported from 10-80%.
APHIS listed P. pachyrhizi in the Federal Register on August 12, 2002, as one of nine agents or
toxins potentially posing a severe threat to plant health or plant products in the U.S.
The appearance of a new pathogen on a key U.S. commodity raises a whole series of questions.
Farmers want to know if it poses a direct threat, not only for the crop in the year it appears, but also
for the future. The arrival of P. pachrhizi to the United States soybean production areas is
anticipated and could cause large crop and economic losses to growers. Resistant varieties are still in
development, but there are effective fungicides being used in other countries. It is not currently
known which of the fungicides, current registrations and future registration, may be effective on
soybean rust in the U.S. Growers, Extension personnel, researchers, etc., also need to know how to
identify soybean rust so rapid detection can occur.
Types of Activities
With an invading pest there is a tremendous need for information on the biology
of the pest in its new environment, its distribution across the soybean
production areas, etc. This project will focus on identifying information needs
and coordinating research, education and extension across states and regions.
Activities will involve scientists not only from states in the North Central
Region but also from states in other regions which will probably incur soybean
rust first. Coordination is critical, because there is a great pressure in each
state for action and also from USDA agencies. This can best be accomplished
through a NC-500 series project and including states from other regions. Initial
objects are given in the following statement. It is expected that the initial
meeting of the group, to be announced, will further elaborate these objectives
and potentially propose additional objectives.
Objectives
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Develop survey procedures.
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Develop education materials for soybean rust identification.
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Identify potential impact of soybean rust to soybean.
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Identify and evaluate tactics for soybean rust control, and communicate results with the user community.
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Identify and prioritize information and research needs. Add specificity to objectives 1-4.
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Expected Outputs, Outcomes and/or Impacts
The initial output will be education materials to hand out to growers, commodity
groups, consultants,scouts, etc., on identification of soybean rust. A second
probable outcome would be a pest management and control advisory for the 2003
production season. Finally, there would be a prioritized list of information and
research needs with a potential list of collaborators.
Projected Participation
View Appendix E: ParticipationLiterature Cited
Kuchler,F., Duffy, R.,Shrum, R., and Dowler, W. 1984. Potential economic
consequences of the entry of an exotic fungal pest: The case of soybean rust.
Phytopathology 74(8):916-920.
Yang, X. B., Dowler, W. M. and Royer, M. H. 1991. Assessing the risk and
potential impact of an exotic plant disease. Plant Disease 75(10):976-982.
Yang, X. B., Tschanz, A. T., Dlowler, W. M. and Wang, T. C. 1991. Development of
yield loss models in relation to reduction of components of soybean infected
with Phakopsora pachyrhizi. Phytopathology 81:1420-1426.
Duffy, R. Control of exotic pests: Forecasting economic impacts. USDA/ERS
Agricultural Economic Report #518. August 1984.
Strategic Plan to Minimize the Impact of the Introduction and Establishment of
Soybean Rust (Phakopsora pachyrhizi, P. meibomiae) on Soybean Production in the
United States. USDA/APHIS/PPQ. September 2002. This can be found at
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/ep/pestdetection/soybean_rust/sbrplan1106.pdf