| Microclimate
and Rate of Within Field Soybean Rust Spread |
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| This research project has a number of interrelated objectives: 1) Determine the effects of row spacing (7, 14, 30 inch rows) on microclimate variables in soybean canopies in Florida, 2) Determine the effect of row spacing on the spatial distribution and rate of spread of soybean rust in soybean canopies, 3) Quantify relationships between microclimate variables and soybean rust spread within canopies at different row spacing, and 4) Evaluate the extent to which soybean rust infection alters the microclimates of soybean canopies. | |
 Row Spacing Experiment |
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The project was initiated by a former CEAL Ph.D. student, Justin Dillion, and is currently being run by Dario Narvez (post-doc UF NFREC) and Scott Isard at the North Florida Research and Education Center in Quincy, FL. The field study is being conducted using a randomized complete block design with 2 replications. The row spacing treatments are 7.5, 15, and 30 inches maintaining a plant density of 73 plants/acre. Air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, leaf wetness and radiation are monitored in each treatment and control plot. The plots are 80 x 80 ft with 30 ft borders planted to fungicide treated soybeans in 7.5 in rows. |
| Ten ft fungicide treated borders surround the field to reduce edge effects. Single heavily soybean rust infected plants were introduced in the center of each treatment when the plants in the field were at the early reproductive growth stage (R1-R2). The spread of the disease was monitored on a 49 point sampling grid in each plot. The severity of disease was evaluated on 5 leaves at the upper, middle and lower canopy levels. During 2006, assessments were made 23, 30, 40, 44, 51 and 59 days after inoculation while in 2007, assessments were made once each week for 8 weeks after inoculation. A visualization of the spread for 2006 combining data from all canopy levels is shown in Figure 1 (click on mouse for animation). More detailed temporal and spatial analyses are presented by DeWolf et al 2006 and Esker et al 2007. |  |
DeWolf, E.D., S.A. Isard, M. Nita, and J. Dillon, Spore deposition,
micrometeorological data and the spread of soybean rust. Proceedings
of the National Soybean Rust Symposium, November 29-December 1,
2005. St. Louis, MO. http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/infocenter/topic/soybeanrust/2006/ |
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