According to USDA’s Asian soybean rust website, the disease has been detected in Kentucky -- the most northern finding of the season. Asian soybean rust has been detected at a low level in a double-crop soybean field in Muhlenberg County in south-central Kentucky. The incidence was 3% (3 out of 100 leaves) and the severity was 1%.
“This find is interesting, but it is too late in the season to cause concern. This find is three weeks after the remnants of Hurricane Isaac blew through the state,” notes the report.
In 2012, Asian soybean rust has been reported in 183 counties in the U.S. including those in Alabama (52), Arkansas (8), Florida (10), Georgia (22), Kentucky (1), Louisiana (8), Mississippi (73), North Carolina (1), South Carolina (5) and Texas (2); and there have been 13 reports from Mexico. “The number of increased reports in September indicate wide spread occurrence of rust in the south that will likely result in more or less complete coverage of soybean rust throughout the south with expected increased reports in the Mid-South and Northern states over the next few weeks,” states the report.
