2022
Soybean Gall Midge: Pest Management Tactics and Plant Disease Interactions
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Contributor/Checkoff:
Nebraska Soybean Board
Category:
Sustainable Production
Keywords:
Crop protectionDiseaseField management
Parent Project:
This is the first year of this project.
Lead Principal Investigator:
Justin McMechan, University of Nebraska
Co-Principal Investigators:
Project Code:
1745
Contributing Organization (Checkoff):
Nebraska Soybean Board
$72,059
Institution Funded:
University of Nebraska at Lincoln
$72,059
Brief Project Summary:

In late June 2018, entomologists in multiple states received reports of soybean fields with visible signs of dead or dying plants that were found to be associated with soybean gall midge. For the past decade, soybean gall midge has only been considered a secondary pest of soybean, however, a number of observations during 2018 suggest it is likely a primary pest. Unlike previous years, damage from gall midge was observed in late June, two months earlier than observed previously. In most cases, heavily damaged fields were adjacent to a field that had been planted to soybean the previous year and plant death was often greatest next to areas with dense vegetation (uncut smooth bromegrass). A...

Unique Keywords:
#soybean diseases
Information And Results
Project Deliverables

Milestones will occur during early season with documentation of first adult emergence and location of emergence. Assessments of infestation and disease inoculation of sentinel plants will be reached at the end of each growing season along with plant damage assessments and yield impacts on field plots.

Resulting data from this project would be presented at a number of Nebraska outreach extension efforts such as Soybean Management Field Days (approx. 400 attendees), Nebraska Crop Management Conference (approx. 300 attendees), Midwest Crop Production Clinic (50 attendees), Crop Production Clinics (1,400 attendees), and Nebraska Soybean Expo (300 attendees). Updates on research progress would be presented through Twitter, Market Journal, grower listserves, Market Journal interviews, and UNL Cropwatch articles. We would expect that at least two peer reviewed publications will result from this work.

Final Project Results

Updated May 26, 2023:

View uploaded report PDF file

The lack of interaction between plant disease and soybean gall midge is important for the overall management strategy of this new species. We could not detect any differences in larval abundance on plants, plant injury, or yield even with an excessive use of fungicides was applied in the field. This lack of response along with the cost of fungicides should remove the use of a fungicide as a control strategy for soybean gall midge.

The United Soybean Research Retention policy will display final reports with the project once completed but working files will be purged after three years. And financial information after seven years. All pertinent information is in the final report or if you want more information, please contact the project lead at your state soybean organization or principal investigator listed on the project.