A key to achieving maximum economic returns is minimizing disease pressure, and the foundation of effective disease management is accurate diagnosis. This is not easy given the broad spectrum of diseases found in the field—and also given that symptoms can look very similar. 

A Farmer’s Guide to Soybean Diseases provides the images, tools, and non-technical guidance to help ag professionals accurately diagnose soybean diseases and disorders found in the fields of the United States, Canada, and other countries where soybean is grown.

This no-nonsense, highly accessible book features diagnostic keys and other extensive cross-referencing tools to help users quickly find diseases and minimize identification errors. It features… 

• An easy-to-follow introduction to soybean diseases and disorders

• A non-technical overview on diagnosing soybean diseases in a field setting

• Disease listings organized by part of the soybean plant affected

• Disease distribution maps to help narrow the search for suspect diseases

• Basic instructions for using diagnostic and scouting tools, like hand lenses

• A glossary defining the various diseases and diagnostic terms used in the book

 A Farmer’s Guide to Soybean Diseases also provides general management recommendations, giving growers and crop specialists an excellent primer for discussions with extension or crop specialists in their specific state or province about localized treatments.

This book is a truly collaborative effort. Thirty-five experts from more than 20 universities, agencies, and companies packed their vast collective soybean disease knowledge into this highly accessible book written with the grower in mind.

A Farmer's Guide to Soybean Diseases

PART ONE: Introduction

CHAPTER 1: How to Use This Book

CHAPTER 2: Understanding Soybean Diseases and Disorders

Impact of Diseases on Soybean
Infectious Diseases
What Is Plant Disease?
   The Plant Disease Triangle
   Major Groups of Plant Pathogens
   The Disease Cycle
   Breaking the Disease Cycle
Noninfectious Disorders
The Soybean Plant
   Stages of Development
   Effects of Stress at Key Developmental Stages
   Scouting for Diseases of Soybean

PART TWO: Soybean Diseases and Disorders

CHAPTER 3: Diagnostic Key

Field Conditions and Crop Stage
Weather Conditions
Disease Timeline and Field Distribution
Symptoms and Signs
   General Plant Symptoms and Signs
   Symptoms and Signs on Specific Plant Tissues

CHAPTER 4: Foliar Diseases

      Aerial Blight
      Alfalfa Mosaic
      Bacterial Blight
      Bacterial Pustule
      Bean Pod Mottle
       Cercospora Leaf Blight and Purple Seed Stain
       Downy Mildew
       Frogeye Leaf Spot
       Peanut Mottle
       Phomopsis Seed Decay
       Phyllosticta Leaf Spot
       Powdery Mildew
       Septoria Brown Spot
       Soybean Dwarf
       Soybean Mosaic
       Soybean Rust
       Soybean Vein Necrosis
       Target Spot
       Tobacco Ringspot
       Tobacco Streak
       Wildfire

CHAPTER 5: Root and Stem Diseases

Anthracnose Stem Blight
Brown Stem Rot
Charcoal Rot
Fusarium Root Rot and Wilt
Phymatotrichum Root Rot
Phytophthora Root and Stem Rot
Pod and Stem Blight
Pythium Seedling Blight and Root Rot
Red Crown Rot
Rhizoctonia Seedling Blight and Root Rot
Root-Knot Nematode
Southern Blight
Soybean Cyst Nematode
Stem Canker (Northern and Southern)
Sudden Death Syndrome
Thielaviopsis Root Rot
White Mold
Other Nematodes (Sting, Lesion, Reniform, and Lance)

CHAPTER 6: Noninfectious Disorders

Nutrient and Fertilizer Disorders
Chemical Injury
Environmental Conditions and Genetic Disorders
Insect and Mite Injury

CHAPTER 7: Diseases of Quarantine or Worldwide Importance

Bacterial Tan Spot
Red Leaf Blotch

CHAPTER 8: A Closer Look

Using a Hand Lens
Looking at Microscopic Images
Creating a Moist Chamber

Glossary

Image Credits

Index

"...unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, college, and university library Agricultural reference collections in general, and Soybean supplemental studies reading lists in particular."
—Library Bookwatch