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ARS Home » Midwest Area » West Lafayette, Indiana » Crop Production and Pest Control Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #310951
Title: Greenhouse evaluation of commercial soybean cultivars adapted to the northern United States for resistance to charcoal rot

Author
item SEXTON, ZACHARY - Purdue University
item WISE, KIERSTEN - Purdue University
item Hughes, Teresa

Submitted to: Plant Health Progress
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/28/2014
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: As charcoal rot becomes more prevalent in the northern soybean producing areas of the United States it is important to find resistance to this disease in germplasm adapted for growth in this region. Traditional field screening methods for identifying charcoal rot resistance in experiments conducted in the southern US have been successful, but these methods are time consuming and results are greatly influenced by environmental conditions. Experiments were conducted to identify resistant commercial soybean cultivars adapted for productions in the northern region of the US using a greenhouse based screening assay. Multiple commercial cultivars were identified as moderately resistant and results were consistent across experiments, showing that resistance is available in the commercial germplasm and that greenhouse screening methods can be used to identify charcoal rot resistance in soybeans.

Technical Abstract: Thirty (30) and sixty-seven (67) commercially available soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr) cultivars from Wisconsin (Maturity group (MG) I-II) and Indiana (MG II-III), respectively, were evaluated for charcoal rot (CR; Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid) resistance using a cut-stem greenhouse assay. Disease was characterized as area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) based on lesion development. Cultivar resistance was assessed in relation to the resistant check (DT97-4290). The cut-stem method consistently differentiated between the CR-resistant and susceptible (Pharaoh) checks, indicating assay reliability Likewise, disease development in each of the commercial cultivars was comparable across all experiments based on experiment × cultivar interactions (WI: P=0.263, IN: P=0.185). The reaction of WI and IN cultivars ranged from susceptible to moderately resistant. Although no cultivar was immune to M. phaseolina, three MG I-II and 16 MG II-III cultivars had similar or lower AUDPC than DT97-4290 and had significantly lower AUDPC than Pharaoh. Results of this study indicate there are commercial cultivars available to manage CR in the upper Midwest.