Soybean Disease in the Tropics: A Management Toolkit - Soybean Innovation Lab Webinar

Soybean has been the fastest-growing broad land crop for the last 20 years as farmers attempt to meet the rising demand for a variety of feed, food, and industrial products. As soybean production across Africa is expected to increase, this will likely lead to an increase in the prevalence of soybean disease. Soybean diseases of particular interest in Africa include frogeye leaf spot, red leaf blotch, rust, and sudden death syndrome. Diseases may be introduced to the crop through human activity, seeds, vectors, or water and wind. In other cases, such as with the fungus that causes red leaf blotch, the pathogen may jump from another host to soybean when introduced. Finding disease-resistant genes to develop commercial cultivars that can prevent yield loss due to soybean diseases like red leaf blotch is an effective way to increase production and stabilize crops across Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Soybean Innovation Lab will be hosting our upcoming webinar, Soybean Disease in the Tropics: A Management Toolkit, on Thursday, April 9 at 8 am CST.

Panelists Dr. Glen Hartman, Plant Pathologist, USDA-ARS, Dr. Harun Murithi, Plant Pathologist, USDA-ARS, Dr. Lorna Migiro, Plantwise Program Support Manager, CABI, Dr. Michelle Pawlowski, Postdoctoral Researcher, USDA, and Nicole Lee, Extension Lead, Soybean Innovation Lab will give an overview of the status of soybean disease in Africa, teach attendees how to identify soybean diseases such as Red Leaf Blotch and Rust in the field, and introduce a free, online course in Integrated Pest Management and Pesticide Safety.