Macomb, IL – The Soybean Rust disease has been identified in McDonough County, but it's too late in the season for it to affect yields.
Loretta Ortiz-Ribbing, a crop specialist with the University of Illinois Extension Service, says the disease was found on some unpicked, green soybeans that had been left after harvest.
If plants are exposed to the spores earlier in the season, they can defoliate it before the plant forms pods.
She says this year, the disease was found mainly in south coastal states until September.
Then winds from storms blew it northward. It has been confirmed in northern Iowa so far. It has also been confirmed in Lee, Des Moines and Louisa counties in Iowa.
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The disease has been identified in southern Illinois and Missouri in previous years, but had not made it as far north as west central Illinois.
When plants catch the disease, the defoliation prevents them from setting seed and can eliminate a crop yield.
Kudzu is an alternate host for Soybean Rust, and the disease can survive a mild winter if it finds host plants in a protected area.
The extension service recommends the web site http://www.sbrusa.net for tracking the spread of the disease, as well as other information.