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Research Highlights

Research Highlights
Pesticide Impact on White Mold (Sclerotinia Stem Rot) and Soybean Yield

White Mold on a soybean plant.

White mold (Sclerotinia stem rot) is caused by the fungal pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, and the disease frequently ranks among the top yield-reducing soybean diseases in the northern United States. Researchers estimate that white mold caused more than 101 million bushels of soybean yield loss (an estimated value $1.2 billion) in the U.S. and Ontario, Canada (Allen et al., 2017; USDA-NASS, 2017).

The pathogen can survive in the soil as sclerotia for a long time. Furthermore, S. slerotiorum has a broad host range. Both factors present major management challenges. Most commercial soybean cultivars exhibit little host resistance, so in-season management relies heavily on applying fungicides that protect the flowers
from infection.

Read the article just published on the Crop Protection Network website.

Published: Oct 19, 2019