In 2010, soybean leaves were collected from 200 soybean fields in 25 N.D. counties and analyzed for eight different soybean viruses in a cooperative study with Dr. L. Domier, a USDA virologist in Illinois. The results of that study were reported previously. However, Dr. Domier continued to analyze the leaves from that collection using different techniques and recently found one soybean field where plants were infected with soybean dwarf virus, a virus not previously detected in North Dakota.

We used both traditional and molecular methods of identifying the fungi in those plants and determined that the disease was not sudden death syndrome. We believe the symptoms were caused by
F. solani, a common Fusarium infecting soybean roots in this area, in combination with some unknown soil or stress factor. As of yet, sudden death syndrome has not been verified in North Dakota.