Day 2 of the #ICM30 Conference has wrapped up and while we feel great about the sessions we were able to get to today, there were plenty out there that we were not able to get to that had just as helpful information. Make sure to get on Twitter and search for the #ICM30 to get all of the updates from various presentations today.
Here is a round-up of several sessions today in relation to Integrated Pest Management:
Brad Coates
Insect Resistance to Bt
The world’s most widely used weed killer is not responsible for perpetuating Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) in soybeans, research shows. A collaborative effort among soybean researchers in the United States and Canada and found that glyphosate does not increase SDS severity or adversely affect yields in soybean fields. Scientists from five Midwest universities and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs, led by Daren Mueller of Iowa State University (ISU) in Ames, participated in the three-year study.
Since 2000, soybean aphid has been the primary soybean insect pest in Iowa. Infestations are sporadic and unpredictable, but this insect has the ability to cause significant yield loss during periods of optimal reproduction. Several notable infestations have been reported, particularly in north-central Iowa, this week, and therefore scouting to determine population densities is strongly encouraged. Fields that have a fairly uniform infestation with low densities (e.g., 50% of plants infested with an average of 40 aphids per plant) should be closely monitored in August.
Day 1 of the #ICM30 Conference has wrapped up and while I feel great about the sessions we were able to get to today, there were plenty out there that we were not able to get to that had just as helpful information. Make sure to get on Twitter and search for the #ICM30 to get all of the updates from various presentations today.
Here is a round-up of several sessions today in relation to Integrated Pest Management:
Alison Robertson
What’s new with corn disease?
One thing we have learned from outbreaks of sudden death syndrome (SDS) in years past is that this disease likes it wet. Last year we wrote about the risk of SDS increasing with the early season rain. But at the end of the article we threw in one caveat – soybeans were planted very late in the season, which reduced the risk of SDS developing. And after we published the article, the rains essentially stopped. Fast forward to the end of the 2013 season -- we still had some SDS in parts of Iowa in 2013, but it was not as nearly as bad as it could have been.
Farmers in the Midwest may be concerned about white mold (also called Sclerotinia stem rot) in soybean this year. The disease, caused by the fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, is not common every year, but farmers who have battled the disease in the past will want to assess the risk of white mold development as soybeans approach flowering (growth stage R1 – plants have at least one open flower at any node).
Soybean diseases are starting to show up in Iowa fields this growing season. In an On-Farm Network trial in north central Iowa, brown stem rot (BSR) was recently found. This disease is caused by the fungus Phialophora gregata, and infection can result in yield loss for Iowa farmers.
