UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- With few sightings in the United States this year, the risk of Asian soybean rust getting to Pennsylvania and doing damage is low, says an expert in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. But the threat is getting closer, so producers should stay on guard, according to Scott Isard, professor of aerobiology.

First found in the United States in late 2004, Asian soybean rust is an aggressive fungus capable of inflicting multi-million-dollar losses on the nation's soybean crops. Isard says dry weather across the nation has kept the disease from spreading beyond a few mid-southern states, so the risk to northern soybean-growing regions this season remains low. Nevertheless, he advises farmers to examine their fields closely for the next few months.

“I wouldn’t be very surprised if rust did get to the Mid-Atlantic region in September or early October,” he says. “There’s a lot in north Texas, southern Oklahoma, southwestern Arkansas and Louisiana, so the states in the Mid-South region west of the Mississippi River have a moderate to high risk of infection over the coming weeks of the growing season.

"Until that happens, I don’t think Pennsylvania growers are at risk at all. Many Pennsylvania soybean fields are in the seed-filling stages of growth, so the risk of damage from rust, even if it were to reach us sometime soon, is steadily diminishing."

Isard helped develop a U.S. Department of Agriculture Web site (http://www.usda.gov/soybeanrust) that features current updates on the location, extent and severity of rust outbreaks, soybean rust appearance forecasts, county-level tracking of disease status, contact information for local extension offices for advice and links to other Web sites to give producers effective disease-management options.

The site includes text-based narratives to help producers understand what the complex aerobiological forecasting models mean for their specific locations. Penn State Cooperative Extension specialists can also help interpret the information for Pennsylvania growers.

So far this year, Isard says, that information has been favorable. With no immediate threat looming, Pennsylvania soybean producers should continue routine plant-protection measures but be ready if conditions worsen.

"Right now, follow your standard management practices, keeping an eye on the USDA Web site to see if rust is found in the Midwest in the near future," he says. "Until that happens or until rust begins to spread in the southeastern states, the risk of it coming to Pennsylvania is low. Right now there’s drought in the Southeast and very little rust in Florida, Georgia, Alabama or South Carolina. So it’s not likely to come up the East Coast this year. Stay alert but don’t change your behaviors or management practices in any way right now."

###

EDITORS: Contact Scott Isard at 814-865-6290, or by e-mail at sai10@psu.edu.

Writer-Editor: Gary Abdullah 814-863-2708 gxa2@psu.edu