2020
Development of best management guidelines for white mold in PA
Contributor/Checkoff:
Category:
Sustainable Production
Keywords:
Crop protectionDiseaseField management
Lead Principal Investigator:
Paul Esker, Pennsylvania State University
Co-Principal Investigators:
Project Code:
R2020-07; OSP 213584
Contributing Organization (Checkoff):
Institution Funded:
Brief Project Summary:

The persistent annual risk of white mold requires a proactive approach to understanding the importance of different risk factors and farm-level economics to incorporate changes on the farm. Research and extension in this project focus on investigating best management practices for the control of white mold. A multi-tiered approach incorporates an increased understanding of pathogen diversity, spatial sampling for Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, testing and validating existing prediction models developed in the Midwest to see if they perform similarly in the Northeastern U.S. This effort also works directly with farmers through surveys to determine what management tactics would be feasible.

Key Benefactors:
farmers, agronomists, extension agents

Information And Results
Project Deliverables

1. Develop of an isolate collection will provide pathogen material for nursery development that enables a more precise evaluation of genetic material, foliar fungicides, and other production practices like in-furrow treatment of sclerotia.
2. New knowledge relating the importance of different factors that influence white mold risk, since data are based on grower practices and production fields.
3. Economic quantification at the farm level of best management practices that may be applied to combat white mold.
4. Method development that is transferable to other states, as well as can be applied in other legume crops.
5. Long-term, we hypothesize that this approach will enable the development of a risk assessment tool that takes farm-inputted production information and quantifies the risk to classify the farm into one of three different areas: always at a low risk, having a moderate risk, and always at a high risk, since each group will require a different best management recommendation.
6. Training of key stakeholder groups on identification of best management tools to combat white mold based on actual field histories.7. Training of the next generation of scientists and farmers using real-world, on-farm data information.

Final Project Results

Updated February 26, 2022:

View uploaded report PDF file

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.