Vision:

The vision of the MU-Delta Center Plant Pathology Team is to serve the citizens of Missouri through problem solving research and extension education. Our goals are to discover through research new and better ways to protect soybean, cotton, and rice from diseases, and then to deliver this information to members of the agriculture community. We plan to accomplish these through high quality, focused research and extension instruction.

Current Research:

• Compile estimates of soybean yield suppression due to diseases in the USA from 1996 to 2006 (Cooperating with S. Koenning, Professor at North Carolina State University, funded by United Soybean Board).
• Determine the impact of diseases on world soybean supply during 2006 (Cooperating with scientists in these ten countries, funding from USDA).
• Determine the correlation between drought tolerance of soybean and tolerance to charcoal root rot (Cooperating with Grover Shannon and John Rupe, Professor at University of Arkansas, funded by Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council).
• Search for soybean lines resistant to charcoal root rot and frogeye leaf spot (Cooperating with Grover Shannon and Jason Bond, Associate Professor at Southern Illinois University and scientists at four other universities, funded by the North Central Soybean Research Program).
• Determine soybean planting date effects on soybean rust (Cooperating with Bill Wiebold, Professor, and Laura Sweets, Associate Professor, University of Missouri, funded by Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council).
• Site-specific detection and management of root knot nematodes in cotton (Cooperating with Gene Stevens, Earl Vories, and Terry Kirkpatrick, Professor at University of Arkansas, funded by Cotton Incorporated).
• Site-specific detection of rice stress due to diseases using remote sensing (Cooperating with Gene Stevens, Brian Ottis, and Dave Dunn, funded by Missouri Rice Merchandising Council).
• Evaluate foliar fungicides for control of soybean rust (funded by industry).
• Determine effect of seed applied and in furrow applied fungicides for control of cotton seedling diseases (funded by industry and National Cotton Foundation).

Current Extension Projects:

• Missouri Certified Crop Advisor Training (Dr. Andy Kendig-Leader).
• Missouri Cotton Integrated Pest Management (Dr. Andy Kendig and Dr. Allen Wrather-Leaders).
• USA Cotton Nematode Management (Dr. Don Blasingame, Professor Mississippi State University-Leader).
• Missouri Commercial Pesticide Applicator Training (Dr. Wayne Bailey-Leader).
• Soybean Rust Management (Dr. Laura Sweets, Dr. Bill Wiebold, and Dr. Allen Wrather-Leaders).
• Missouri Rice Production Systems (Dr. Gene Stevens-Leader).

Recent Accomplishments:

• We determined that soybean cyst nematode (SCN) caused more damage to soybeans in the USA than any other disease during 1996 to 2002.
• We learned that SCN was present in 63% of Missouri soybean acres, that SCN races 1, 2, and 3 accounted for 86% of those in Missouri, and that the value of SCN damage to Missouri soybean in 1999 was $58 million.
• We determined that Phomopsis seed decay of soybean can be best controlled with resistant soybean lines SS 93-6012 and 93-6181, and that foliar fungicides are not very effective for control of this disease.
• We published the book titled "The Biology and Management of Soybean Cyst Nematode, Second Edition." This is the only text on SCN in the world.
• We determined that planting rice in no-till or stale seedbed fields yielded similar to rice planted in conventional till fields.
• We determined the nematodes causing cotton yield loss in the US and their distribution within states.
• We learned that seedling diseases can reduce cotton plant population, but cotton yields will not be reduced until the plant population falls below 13,000 plants per acre.
• We determined that root-knot nematode distribution in cotton fields can be mapped by post harvest grid sampling fields for cotton root galls due to this nematode.
• We learned that midseason remote images of cotton fields will not be very useful for predicting distribution of root-knot nematode in these fields.
• We determined that midseason remote images of rice fields will not very well predict rice yield.
• We identified 38 maturity group 3-4 soybean varieties from 300 tested during 2003-2005 that have high resistance to frogeye leaf spot, and these could be included in soybean breeding programs.

2006 Field Day Report