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AgCenter: Treat soybeans early against fungus
Posted: Apr 7, 2011 5:04 AM by Nichole Larkey & AP
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - LSU AgCenter experts say farmers who spray their soybeans early can avoid a lot of damage from a fungus that has become Louisiana's worst soybean disease.
Plant pathologist Boyd Padgett says the problem is that plants can be infected for weeks before cercospora (SIR-ko-SPO-ruh) leaf
blight becomes apparent. Ray Schneider, another plant pathologist, says AgCenter studies suggest that the best control comes from applying fungicide as early as first flower, and again later in the
season.
Even then, says Padgett, it can be hard to control.
The fungus can cut soybean yields by 10 to 15 percent. The AgCenter says that last year, Louisiana farmers planted more than
one million acres of soybeans with a farm-gate value of $424.3
million.
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