May 14, 2004

 

 

US Team Develops Action Plan In Case Asian Soy Rust Reaches Iowa

 

A team of experts is developing an action plan in case Asian soybean rust reaches Iowa, and will hold five workshops in late June on how to deal with the disease.

 

The team is comprised of representatives from Iowa State University, federal and state government officials and soybean industry representatives. The team will hold five training workshops throughout Iowa to discuss with more than 2,000 soy crop consultants and advisers on how to detect the disease and where to send samples for verification, said Greg Tylka, plant pathologist at Iowa State University and a member of the team, said.

 

"We want to alleviate fears and let the public know there are well-trained people working on this potential problem," he said. "We have an effective and geographically widespread system to check for soybean rust."

 

Tylka said the team only focuses on Iowa, which is the U.S. state with the most overall area harvested for soybeans. He said each state with soy crops is developing its own preparedness and reaction plan.

 

Since the Asian rust fungus can easily be mistaken for the far less serious brown spot or bacterial spot diseases, which also have initial stages of small yellow-brownish spots on the leaves, it must be properly tested for verification, he said.

 

Due to the potentially serious economic losses associated with the disease, which U.S. Department of Agriculture recently estimated could reach $1 billion in the first year of its establishment in the U.S., it's important that the first infections be accurately and conclusively identified by USDA scientists.

 

Earlier in the year, team members tested how quickly the identification process would take and received their confirmation is less than 30 hours, which Tylka said was a "pretty quick turn around."

 

"Once that process is organized and settled we will work on a reaction (to possible infection) and have a workshop on that," Tylka said.

 

Tylka said there already is a group in South America studying different fungicides on the infected crops. Tylka said that some of the fungicides they are using have been tentatively approved for use in Iowa if Asian rust were to appear in fields there.

 

Tylka said if the disease reached Iowa, it would not be able to survive the longer winters, unlike in Brazil, where the rust fungus can latch onto a host plant and survive into the next crop.

 

The disease infects the stems and leaves of the soy plant eventually stunting it and reducing its ability to yield a crop.

 

He said the crop is naturally spread via the wind currents, which pick up the spores and can blow them from Africa to South America. However, Tylka said that the Andes Mountains and the vast deserts of Mexico could protect North America.

 

"It really depends on which experts you talk to," Tylka said. "Some say (the disease reaching the U.S.) is inevitable; others say it may not come."