Released February 18, 2010
STONEVILLE, Miss. -- Black root rot, a fungal disease that infects cotton and soybeans, may be affecting more soybean acres across the Delta, and Mississippi State University researchers are working to prevent its impact.
Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station researchers Gabe Sciumbato and Tom Allen have been conducting laboratory studies to learn more about the disease, which has not yet been diagnosed in Mississippi’s soybeans. Black root rot has been most notable in Delta cotton. However, the disease has been known to infect soybeans in other states.
“Black root rot has been in cotton in the Delta for years, but because of the area’s recent shift to soybeans, signs of the disease are increasing statewide and are likely to impact yields,” said Sciumbato, a plant pathologist at MSU’s Delta Research and Extension Center. “We are monitoring for signs of outbreaks and trying to isolate them, then get a diagnosis confirmed.”
--continued on Mississippi State University news
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