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Evaluation of Glycine max Germ Plasm for Resistance to Fusarium solani f. sp. glycines

Sudden death syndrome, caused by Fusarium solani f. sp. glycines, has caused increased losses in soybean production in recent years. This study was done to identify potential sources of resistance to sudden death syndrome. Using a greenhouse screening procedure, 6,037 soybean plant introductions (PIs) were compared with a susceptible check, Great Lakes 3302, and two moderately resistant checks, PI 520.733 and PI 567.374, for resistance to sudden death syndrome. Only 57 PIs had foliar disease ratings that were not significantly different from PI 567.374 (P ≤ 0.05) 3 weeks after inoculation. Six PIs had lower ratings than PI 567.374 at 4 weeks after inoculation, while none had lower area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) values. When comparing the PIs to PI 520.733, 209 PIs had foliar disease ratings not significantly different from PI 520.733 (P ≤ 0.05) 3 weeks after inoculation. Eight PIs had significantly lower disease severity ratings 4 weeks after inoculation, and 38 PIs had significantly lower AUDPC values than PI 520.733. Additionally, root lesion lengths were measured 4 weeks after inoculation and ranged from 25.2 to 41.5 mm for all the PIs; none of the entries had smaller lesion lengths than the susceptible check Great Lakes 3302. The correlation between lesion length and disease foliar severity rating was not significant. There also were no plant morphological characteristics (i.e., flower color or seed coat color) associated with higher sudden death syndrome foliar symptoms. Eighteen PIs previously identified as moderately resistant with differing agronomic traits were inoculated with five different isolates of Fusarium solani f. sp. glycines. Results indicated that resistance in these 18 PIs was effective against all five isolates of Fusarium solani f. sp. glycines. Isolate Mont-1 caused the greatest disease severity ratings. These PIs that exhibited low foliar severity ratings may provide new sources of resistance for the development of new sudden death syndrome-resistant lines and cultivars.