First Red Crown Rot Infection Hits Minnesota Soybean Fields

Red crown rot (RCR) continues its march across the Midwest, with the first confirmed case in Minnesota. The soilborne soybean disease known to weaken plants and cut yields was detected in a Rock County field in August, according to Dean Malvick, University of Minnesota plant pathologist.

“This is the first known case of red crown rot in Minnesota, and the nearest known infection before this was more than 400 miles away in NW Illinois,” Malvick wrote in a University of Minnesota Extension bulletin. “It raises questions about how this pathogen is moving and whether it has gone undetected in other fields.”

A Disease on the Move

Red crown rot was first found in Midwest soybean fields in Illinois in 2018 and had spread to multiple fields in Illinois, as well as fields in Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan. It has also recently been confirmed in south-central Wisconsin. The modes by which red crown rot is spreading in the Midwest are unknown.

Management Challenges Ahead

Managing red crown rot could prove challenging. So far, most soybean varieties tested in the Midwest appear susceptible, and researchers say the fungus can persist in the soil for years, making management difficult.

“The red crown rot pathogen is thought to survive for multiple years in soil, thus minimizing the usefulness of crop rotation,” Malvick said in his Extension bulletin…

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