Soybean Rust Update

Over the past week, soybean rust was detected on soybeans for the first time in 2009 in both Lousiana (Iberia Parish) on June 4th and on June 8th from Washington county, Alabama just north of Mobile. Both of these reports represent the earliest soybean rust has been found on soybeans in these two states. According to Ed Sikora, Extension Pathologist (Auburn University), this is the earliest the disease had been detected on soybean and in previous years it was not detected until the last week of June in nearby Baldwin County. So we have detected the disease on soybeans about 3-4 weeks "ahead of schedule" and it is farther north then in previous years.

Figure 1. Soybean Rust Observations - June 10, 2009