2015
Irrigation regimes and soil oxygen content: Investigating environmental parameters associated with SDS disease in Kansas
Contributor/Checkoff:
Category:
Sustainable Production
Keywords:
Crop protectionDiseaseField management
Lead Principal Investigator:
Christopher Little, Kansas State University
Co-Principal Investigators:
DeAnn Presley, Kansas State University
Project Code:
1448
Contributing Organization (Checkoff):
Institution Funded:
Brief Project Summary:

Sudden death syndrome is an economically important soybean fungal disease across the United States and is spreading throughout the Midwest. SDS has been a perennial cause of yield loss in irrigated soybean production in the Kansas River Valley. Objectives of this project include determining the amounts and intervals of sprinkler irrigation treatments associated with the onset, development, and severity of SDS; determining if soil oxygen content influences SDS disease development and severity; and determining if either irrigation treatment or soil oxygen content, or both, influence soil populations of the SDS pathogen (Fusarium virguliforme).

Key Benefactors:
farmers, agronomists, plant pathologists

Information And Results
Project Deliverables

Final Project Results

Irrigation regimes influenced pathogen populations in the soil. Low-level irrigations at R1 reduced F. virguiliforme pathogen populations in the soil when measured at mid-season compared to those at planting. Thus, there appears to be a negative relationship between disease severity and pathogen populations as influenced by irrigation. It is clear that there is a positive relationship between soil oxygen content and SDS disease severity, however there is no significant relationship between soil oxygen content and F. virguiliforme populations in the soil. Thus, this suggests that aerobic (higher oxygen) soils facilitate the SDS disease development process, as opposed to anaerobic (low oxygen) soils. So far, the data shows that irrigation treatments have an impact on soil pathogen populations as mentioned above. In general, it appears that low-level irrigations at R1 reduce F. virguliforme populations the most, however, after combining 2013 and 2014 data, the lowest disease severity was observed when low-level irrigations were conducted at V4 and high-level irrigations were conducted at R1.

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.