October 27, 2011
Hot, dry weather last summer spared many soybean fields from an outbreak of sudden death syndrome (SDS), but there’s no guarantee 2012 will be similarly blessed.
“If you had SDS in a field in 2010, then for the rest of that field’s life, you have to manage for SDS,” warns Alison Robertson, a plant pathology professor at Iowa State University.
“Managing for SDS takes an integrated approach,” she continues. “It’s not enough just to plant a resistant variety.”
SDS has become one of the most important soybean diseases, spreading throughout the Midwest and beyond to states like Mississippi and Tennessee. In Indiana, for example, the fungus is now present in nearly all soybean fields. In 2010, an especially bad year for SDS, outbreaks were reported in 96 of Iowa’s 99 counties.
Robertson outlines a series of steps that, taken together, reduce the risk of serious SDS losses:
■ The first and most important step is to plant SDS-resistant varieties.