Dec 06, 2017
Scientists Confirm Soybean Rust Overwintered in Argentina
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Scientists from the National University of Northeast Buenos Aires have reported the first incidence of soybean rust overwintering in the province. They believe this is an important development because prior to this, soybean rust spores entered Argentina on an annual basis by being blown in from neighboring Paraguay, Brazil, or Uruguay. Now that the disease has been found to overwinter within Argentina, farmers must be much more diligent in looking for symptoms of the disease in their soybean fields. The scientists who authored the report are from the city of Pergamino in northern Buenos Aires, which is one of the most productive agricultural regions of Argentina.
The first documented case of soybean rust in Argentina occurred in 2002 in the northeastern province of Misiones and then during the following year in the province of Corrientes. Both of these provinces have a border with Brazil where the disease was found in the 2000/01 growing season. By the 2004/05 growing season, the disease had been found in the provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Entre Rios, Santa Fe, Jujuy and Cordoba.
In a bulletin released earlier by university researchers, they confirmed that rust had been found in the plant kudzu (Pueraria iobata) in the provinces of Misiones and Buenos Aires. It has been long known that kudzu is a host plant for soybean rust, but this was the first documented case of rust on kudzu in Argentina. Kudzu is an extremely fast growing vine that is very hard to eradicate. Since it has been confirmed to overwinter in kudzu, farmers in Argentina now must become much more diligent in scouting their fields for the presence of soybean rust.