By Donald Hershman, Plant Pathologist, University of Kentucky

As of August 4, there is no confirmed soybean rust anywhere near Kentucky. However, the University of Kentucky Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab at Princeton has received numerous samples of soybean sudden death syndrome (SDS).

I have also gotten about a dozen phone calls recently (about SDS), and I saw a report today where the disease is developing very significantly in some fields in southern Illinois. Point is, it looks like SDS may be a significant player this year.

By way of background, SDS is a root disease caused by the fungal pathogen Fusarium solani f.sp. glycines. The roots of plants are infected and become diseased during the vegetative stages of plant development. Then, typically as plants enter the pod development stages, foliar symptoms are expressed as a result of foliar sensitivity to one or more plant toxins produced by the fungus in diseased root tissue.

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