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To Scout For Sudden Death Syndrome Of Soybean

On September 09, 2017

A soybean disease that is dependent on favorable environmental conditions like cool and damp conditions at planting that is starting “show up” in soybean fields is Sudden death syndrome or SDS. The reason to write “show up” is the fact that what we are now seeing is the expression of foliar symptoms representing an infection that most likely occurred shortly after planting, typically in areas of high compaction an

A soybean disease that is dependent on favorable environmental conditions like cool and damp conditions at planting that is starting “show up” in soybean fields is Sudden death syndrome or SDS. The reason to write “show up” is the fact that what we are now seeing is the expression of foliar symptoms representing an infection that most likely occurred shortly after planting, typically in areas of high compaction and poor drainage. Extension Plant Pathologist Paul Esker explains that infection by the pathogen that causes SDS can occur at other times during the growing season as well.

Sudden death syndrome is a fungal disease caused by Fusarium virguliforme, and can easily be mistaken for several different soybean diseases if care is not taken to identify correctly the different symptoms. Consult this link http://cropprotectionnetwork.org/soybean/sds/ for an excellent guide to differentiate soybean diseases from nutrient or fungicide injury.

Specifically for SDS, foliar symptoms are similar to Brown stem rot (BSR), another important soybean disease, and includes yellow to brown discoloration of the leaves around the veins. These symptoms initially begin as small, circular spots where you can see these on several of the leaves. In order to differentiate SDS from BSR, we need to examine the roots and stems. SDS-infected soybean plants can have roots that are black and rotted, and when there is reproduction of the fungus on the root surface, a bluish to purple hue can also be observed. A key symptom that can further separate the two diseases can be seen by splitting the stem since BSR will have a brown discoloration in the center of the stem (pith), while for SDS-infected plants, the pith tissue remains white.

Once we have identified SDS, it will be important to note the overall distribution of the disease in the field in order to make appropriate management decisions in the future, especially related to improving compaction and drainage in those areas. SDS does not occur every year due to different environmental conditions, but we need to consider an integrated approach to further reduce the risk of this disease. Start by working with your seed rep on variety selection, as there are materials that have better resistance to SDS.

Given that the pathogen can survive for long periods of time in the field and several research studies have shown that F. virguliforme has a broad host range, crop rotation may not be the most effective management tool. Foliar fungicides are not effective, while not all fungicide seed treatments have shown to have efficacy against this disease, although there are several products with F. virguliforme on its label. Delaying the planting date may only be warranted for those fields where SDS was very severe since it is known that delayed planting can decrease yield potential. Finally, while nematodes have not been a problem in Pennsylvania, it may be worthwhile to consider sending a soil sample for testing since in several studies a strong link between soybean cyst nematode and SDS has been documented, although both occur in the absence of the other.

To Learn About Interseeding to Enhance and Extend Fall Grazing

The greatest cost on grazing livestock enterprises is often stored and harvested feed costs. Extending the grazing season can help to reduce stored feed costs, reduce labor needs, and improve the overall profitability and sustainability of the operation. A new interseeding study has been established to evaluate grazing of interseeded corn to enhance soil health and forage production.

Extension Agronomist Jessica Williamson reports this project was begun this summer to utilize interseeding as tool to enhance the potential of fall grazing of corn residue and improve soil health and corn yields with the integration of livestock in annual crop production. As part of this, Williamson and the Penn State Agronomy team developed a corn interseeding program using many of the principles established here in previous interseeding research to try to maximize the potential for biomass accumulation in the interseeding. They selected two fields totaling about 25 acres that had moderate yield potential with some soil depth or drainage issues. They planted a 102 d hybrid in mid-May at about 27,000 seeds per acre and interseeded annual ryegrass at V4 to V5 while sidedressing N. A short residual herbicide was used and followed with glyphosate prior to interseeding.

Weed control and growth has been good and the interseeding emerged well and has developed decent biomass with the favorable conditions this summer. They have established two complimentary studies to look at the impact of corn plant populations and post-harvest N applications on the ryegrass biomass for grazing. We plan to graze some plots in the fall in the main study and then evaluate the impact on the corn yield, ryegrass stand and soil quality next spring. Our goal is to demonstrate that grazing can be integrated with corn production while enhancing soil health, extending the grazing season, and providing a high quality diet to grazing livestock.

Learn about this at a field day on Thursday, November 9th from 5-8 pm at the Livestock Evaluation Center where we will be discussing interseeding management and demonstrating grazing of interseeded forages and corn stover. The Livestock Evaluation Center is located at 1494 W Pine Grove Rd, Pennsylvania Furnace, PA. Contact Jessica Williamson at jaw67@psu.edu<mailto:jaw67@psu.edu> for more event details!

To Register For The Agronomic Pesticide Applicator’s School in Lancaster County

If you’re a commercial or private pesticide applicator in need of continuing education credits, then attend the Penn State Extension Agronomic Pesticide Applicator School. Pennsylvania pesticide applicators can obtain as many as six core and six category PC/01 credits in one day or as many as 12 core credits. CCA and Maryland pesticide credits have been approved for the meeting. Delaware pesticide credits are pending. Topics include general pesticide safety as well as updates on current weed, insect and disease issues in Pennsylvania. Registration begins at 8:00 am at the Southeast Agricultural Research and Education Center, 1446 Auction Rd, Manheim, PA. The first breakout session begins at 8:30 am and the last session ends at 3:30 pm. Each session has a separate sign in sheet, so attend as many sessions as you would like to. The event cost is $50 and includes lunch catered by Big Bob’s Barbeque of York. For more information about the event and to register, call the Dauphin County Extension office at 717-921-8803<tel:717-921-8803>.

To Learn About Soil Health And Interseeding At October 4th Field Day

Join Penn State Extension for a Soil Health Field Day on October 4th at the Mike Kennis farm near DuBois. There you can see the results of an interseeding demonstration of annual ryegrass and clover seeded into corn in June and learn how to select cover crops and time seeding dates to ensure a successful stand without affecting the cash crop. In addition, Dr. Sjoerd Duiker will lead sessions on health testing, soil physical properties, carbon and nitrogen cycling and soil fertility. Also, representatives from the Clearfield Conservation District and the Natural Resources Conservation District will provide the latest information of programs that can help farmers implement soil health practices.

The event starts at 10:00 am and wraps up by 2:30 pm. The Kennis farm is located at 585 Haag Rd, DuBois PA. Admission is free but attendees are asked to register by contacting Clearfield County Extension at (814) 765-7878<tel:(814)%20765-7878>. A light lunch and refreshments will be provided.

Quote Of The Week: “Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” Dale Carnegie

d poor drainage. Extension Plant Pathologist Paul Esker explains that infection by the pathogen that causes SDS can occur at other times during the growing season as well.

Sudden death syndrome is a fungal disease caused by Fusarium virguliforme, and can easily be mistaken for several different soybean diseases if care is not taken to identify correctly the different symptoms. Consult this link http://cropprotectionnetwork.org/soybean/sds/ for an excellent guide to differentiate soybean diseases from nutrient or fungicide injury.

Specifically for SDS, foliar symptoms are similar to Brown stem rot (BSR), another important soybean disease, and includes yellow to brown discoloration of the leaves around the veins. These symptoms initially begin as small, circular spots where you can see these on several of the leaves. In order to differentiate SDS from BSR, we need to examine the roots and stems. SDS-infected soybean plants can have roots that are black and rotted, and when there is reproduction of the fungus on the root surface, a bluish to purple hue can also be observed. A key symptom that can further separate the two diseases can be seen by splitting the stem since BSR will have a brown discoloration in the center of the stem (pith), while for SDS-infected plants, the pith tissue remains white.

Once we have identified SDS, it will be important to note the overall distribution of the disease in the field in order to make appropriate management decisions in the future, especially related to improving compaction and drainage in those areas. SDS does not occur every year due to different environmental conditions, but we need to consider an integrated approach to further reduce the risk of this disease. Start by working with your seed rep on variety selection, as there are materials that have better resistance to SDS.

Given that the pathogen can survive for long periods of time in the field and several research studies have shown that F. virguliforme has a broad host range, crop rotation may not be the most effective management tool. Foliar fungicides are not effective, while not all fungicide seed treatments have shown to have efficacy against this disease, although there are several products with F. virguliforme on its label. Delaying the planting date may only be warranted for those fields where SDS was very severe since it is known that delayed planting can decrease yield potential. Finally, while nematodes have not been a problem in Pennsylvania, it may be worthwhile to consider sending a soil sample for testing since in several studies a strong link between soybean cyst nematode and SDS has been documented, although both occur in the absence of the other.

To Learn About Interseeding to Enhance and Extend Fall Grazing

The greatest cost on grazing livestock enterprises is often stored and harvested feed costs. Extending the grazing season can help to reduce stored feed costs, reduce labor needs, and improve the overall profitability and sustainability of the operation. A new interseeding study has been established to evaluate grazing of interseeded corn to enhance soil health and forage production.

Extension Agronomist Jessica Williamson reports this project was begun this summer to utilize interseeding as tool to enhance the potential of fall grazing of corn residue and improve soil health and corn yields with the integration of livestock in annual crop production. As part of this, Williamson and the Penn State Agronomy team developed a corn interseeding program using many of the principles established here in previous interseeding research to try to maximize the potential for biomass accumulation in the interseeding. They selected two fields totaling about 25 acres that had moderate yield potential with some soil depth or drainage issues. They planted a 102 d hybrid in mid-May at about 27,000 seeds per acre and interseeded annual ryegrass at V4 to V5 while sidedressing N. A short residual herbicide was used and followed with glyphosate prior to interseeding.

Weed control and growth has been good and the interseeding emerged well and has developed decent biomass with the favorable conditions this summer. They have established two complimentary studies to look at the impact of corn plant populations and post-harvest N applications on the ryegrass biomass for grazing. We plan to graze some plots in the fall in the main study and then evaluate the impact on the corn yield, ryegrass stand and soil quality next spring. Our goal is to demonstrate that grazing can be integrated with corn production while enhancing soil health, extending the grazing season, and providing a high quality diet to grazing livestock.

Learn about this at a field day on Thursday, November 9th from 5-8 pm at the Livestock Evaluation Center where we will be discussing interseeding management and demonstrating grazing of interseeded forages and corn stover. The Livestock Evaluation Center is located at 1494 W Pine Grove Rd, Pennsylvania Furnace, PA. Contact Jessica Williamson at jaw67@psu.edu<mailto:jaw67@psu.edu> for more event details!

To Register For The Agronomic Pesticide Applicator’s School in Lancaster County

If you’re a commercial or private pesticide applicator in need of continuing education credits, then attend the Penn State Extension Agronomic Pesticide Applicator School. Pennsylvania pesticide applicators can obtain as many as six core and six category PC/01 credits in one day or as many as 12 core credits. CCA and Maryland pesticide credits have been approved for the meeting. Delaware pesticide credits are pending. Topics include general pesticide safety as well as updates on current weed, insect and disease issues in Pennsylvania. Registration begins at 8:00 am at the Southeast Agricultural Research and Education Center, 1446 Auction Rd, Manheim, PA. The first breakout session begins at 8:30 am and the last session ends at 3:30 pm. Each session has a separate sign in sheet, so attend as many sessions as you would like to. The event cost is $50 and includes lunch catered by Big Bob’s Barbeque of York. For more information about the event and to register, call the Dauphin County Extension office at 717-921-8803<tel:717-921-8803>.

To Learn About Soil Health And Interseeding At October 4th Field Day

Join Penn State Extension for a Soil Health Field Day on October 4th at the Mike Kennis farm near DuBois. There you can see the results of an interseeding demonstration of annual ryegrass and clover seeded into corn in June and learn how to select cover crops and time seeding dates to ensure a successful stand without affecting the cash crop. In addition, Dr. Sjoerd Duiker will lead sessions on health testing, soil physical properties, carbon and nitrogen cycling and soil fertility. Also, representatives from the Clearfield Conservation District and the Natural Resources Conservation District will provide the latest information of programs that can help farmers implement soil health practices.

The event starts at 10:00 am and wraps up by 2:30 pm. The Kennis farm is located at 585 Haag Rd, DuBois PA. Admission is free but attendees are asked to register by contacting Clearfield County Extension at (814) 765-7878<tel:(814)%20765-7878>. A light lunch and refreshments will be provided.

Quote Of The Week: “Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” Dale Carnegie

n to write “show up” is the fact that what we are now seeing is the expression of foliar symptoms representing an infection that most likely occurred shortly after planting, typically in areas of high compaction and poor drainage. Extension Plant Pathologist Paul Esker explains that infection by the pathogen that causes SDS can occur at other times during the growing season as well.

 

Sudden death syndrome is a fungal disease caused by Fusarium virguliforme, and can easily be mistaken for several different soybean diseases if care is not taken to identify correctly the different symptoms. Consult this link http://cropprotectionnetwork.org/soybean/sds/ for an excellent guide to differentiate soybean diseases from nutrient or fungicide injury.

 

Specifically for SDS, foliar symptoms are similar to Brown stem rot (BSR), another important soybean disease, and includes yellow to brown discoloration of the leaves around the veins. These symptoms initially begin as small, circular spots where you can see these on several of the leaves. In order to differentiate SDS from BSR, we need to examine the roots and stems. SDS-infected soybean plants can have roots that are black and rotted, and when there is reproduction of the fungus on the root surface, a bluish to purple hue can also be observed. A key symptom that can further separate the two diseases can be seen by splitting the stem since BSR will have a brown discoloration in the center of the stem (pith), while for SDS-infected plants, the pith tissue remains white.

 

Once we have identified SDS, it will be important to note the overall distribution of the disease in the field in order to make appropriate management decisions in the future, especially related to improving compaction and drainage in those areas. SDS does not occur every year due to different environmental conditions, but we need to consider an integrated approach to further reduce the risk of this disease. Start by working with your seed rep on variety selection, as there are materials that have better resistance to SDS.

 

Given that the pathogen can survive for long periods of time in the field and several research studies have shown that F. virguliforme has a broad host range, crop rotation may not be the most effective management tool. Foliar fungicides are not effective, while not all fungicide seed treatments have shown to have efficacy against this disease, although there are several products with F. virguliforme on its label. Delaying the planting date may only be warranted for those fields where SDS was very severe since it is known that delayed planting can decrease yield potential. Finally, while nematodes have not been a problem in Pennsylvania, it may be worthwhile to consider sending a soil sample for testing since in several studies a strong link between soybean cyst nematode and SDS has been documented, although both occur in the absence of the other.

 

To Learn About Interseeding to Enhance and Extend Fall Grazing

 

The greatest cost on grazing livestock enterprises is often stored and harvested feed costs.  Extending the grazing season can help to reduce stored feed costs, reduce labor needs, and improve the overall profitability and sustainability of the operation.  A new interseeding study has been established to evaluate grazing of interseeded corn to enhance soil health and forage production.

 

Extension Agronomist Jessica Williamson reports this project was begun this summer to utilize interseeding as tool to enhance the potential of fall grazing of corn residue and improve soil health and corn yields with the integration of livestock in annual crop production.  As part of this, Williamson and the Penn State Agronomy team developed a corn interseeding program using many of the principles established here in previous interseeding research to try to maximize the potential for biomass accumulation in the interseeding.  They selected two fields totaling about 25 acres that had moderate yield potential with some soil depth or drainage issues.  They  planted a 102 d hybrid in mid-May at about 27,000 seeds per acre and interseeded annual ryegrass at V4 to V5 while sidedressing N.  A short residual herbicide was used and followed with glyphosate prior to interseeding.

 

Weed control and growth has been good and the interseeding emerged well and has developed decent biomass with the favorable conditions this summer.  They  have established two complimentary studies to look at the impact of corn plant populations and post-harvest N applications on the ryegrass biomass for grazing.  We plan to graze some plots in the fall in the main study and then evaluate the impact on the corn yield, ryegrass stand and soil quality next spring.  Our goal is to demonstrate that grazing can be integrated with corn production while enhancing soil health, extending the grazing season, and providing a high quality diet to grazing livestock.

 

Learn about this at a field day on Thursday, November 9th from 5-8 pm at the Livestock Evaluation Center where we will be discussing interseeding management and demonstrating grazing of interseeded forages and corn stover.  The Livestock Evaluation Center is located at 1494 W Pine Grove Rd, Pennsylvania Furnace, PA.  Contact Jessica Williamson at jaw67@psu.edu<mailto:jaw67@psu.edu> for more event details!

 

To Register For The Agronomic Pesticide Applicator’s School in Lancaster County

 

If you’re a commercial or private pesticide applicator in need of continuing education credits, then attend the Penn State Extension Agronomic Pesticide Applicator School. Pennsylvania pesticide applicators can obtain as many as six core and six category PC/01 credits in one day or as many as 12 core credits. CCA and Maryland pesticide credits have been approved for the meeting.  Delaware pesticide credits are pending.  Topics include general pesticide safety as well as updates on current weed, insect and disease issues in Pennsylvania. Registration begins at 8:00 am at the Southeast Agricultural Research and Education Center, 1446 Auction Rd, Manheim, PA.  The first breakout session begins at 8:30 am and the last session ends at 3:30 pm.  Each session has a separate sign in sheet, so attend as many sessions as you would like to.  The event cost is $50 and includes lunch catered by Big Bob’s Barbeque of York.  For more information about the event and to register, call the Dauphin County Extension office at 717-921-8803<tel:717-921-8803>.

 

To Learn About Soil Health And Interseeding At October 4th Field Day

 

Join Penn State Extension for a Soil Health Field Day on October 4th at the Mike Kennis farm near DuBois.  There you can see the results of an interseeding demonstration of annual ryegrass and clover seeded into corn in June and learn how to select cover crops and time seeding dates to ensure a successful stand without affecting the cash crop.  In addition, Dr. Sjoerd Duiker will lead sessions on health testing, soil physical properties, carbon and nitrogen cycling and soil fertility.  Also, representatives from the Clearfield Conservation District and the Natural Resources Conservation District will provide the latest information of programs that can help farmers implement soil health practices.

 

The event starts at 10:00 am and wraps up by 2:30 pm.  The Kennis farm is located at 585 Haag Rd, DuBois PA.  Admission is free but attendees are asked to register by contacting Clearfield County Extension at (814) 765-7878<tel:(814)%20765-7878>.  A light lunch and refreshments will be provided.

 

Quote Of The Week: “Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” Dale Carnegie