SDS continues to be one of the most destructive diseases across the North Central region. In spite of drier-than-average weather during critical times of the year, there was still SDS in several states. Our research focused on two aspects. The first is an extensive study to determine which qPCR protocol would be the most appropriate to quantify DNA of Fusarium virguliforme in soybeans grown under different management strategies. This study was a very complicated study across 5 laboratories. All of the data has been collected and analyzed. The team is now conducting weekly conference calls to interpret the data and to start writing the manuscript. Once the data summary is complete, the qPCR technique that emerges as the most effective across all labs will be used to evaluate management strategies in the other objectives.
Objectives 2 and 3 focus on management strategies that may influence the effectiveness of a resistant variety. This includes management of SCN, adjusting planting date, and using effective seed treatments. The main conclusion was that the new SDS seed treatment that was recently registered by Bayer CropScience (ILeVO) was effective in many different environments and at different SDS severity levels. Planting earlier than mid May did increase risk, and this is the first time this has been evaluated. SCN reproduction numbers have not been collected from all states to complete analysis of these data.