Asian soybean rust, caused by Phakopsora pachyrhizi H. Sydow & Sydow, was first detected in the continental United States in soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) in Louisiana on 6 November 2004 (3) and in kudzu (Pueraria montana var. lobata) in Florida during February 2005 (1). Soybean rust was first confirmed in North Carolina in commercial soybean fields in Brunswick, Columbus, and Robeson counties on 25 October 2005 (2). Subsequently, the disease was detected in soybean in 18 counties, but not in kudzu, even when it was growing adjacent to infected soybean. During 2006, soybean rust was first detected in North Carolina in soybean on 14 September 2006 from a sample from Columbus County that was submitted to the North Carolina State University Plant Disease and Insect Clinic (NCSU-PDIC). Thus, the first detection of soybean rust in North Carolina occurred almost 6 weeks earlier in 2006 than in 2005. Subsequently, in 2006, soybean rust was found in soybean in 42 counties in North Carolina through survey, sentinel plot monitoring, and samples submitted to the NCSU-PDIC. In addition, what appeared to be soybean rust was observed in two samples of kudzu collected on 3 and 6 November 2006 from Moore (35.28313°N, 79.38020°W) and Johnston (35.42742°N, 78.18154°W) counties of North Carolina. The diagnosis of P. pachyrhizi in kudzu was confirmed visually and by ELISA protocol supplied with the EnviroLogix QualiPlate kit (Portland, ME). ELISA tests for each kudzu sample were run in triplicate. PCR was also conducted on infected kudzu samples with a protocol previously reported (1). The PCR master mix that was used came from a dilution scheme based on previous PCR work completed by G. Z. Abad. A total of 24 reactions were run, including four 1-kb molecular markers, four positive controls, four negative controls, and four infected kudzu leaf tissue samples. The results of all diagnostic techniques confirmed the presence of P. pachyrhizi in diseased kudzu. To our knowledge, this is the first report of P. pachyrhizi in kudzu in North Carolina.
References: (1) P. F. Harmon et al. Online publication. doi:10.1094/PHP-2005-0613-01-RS. Plant Health Progress, 2005. (2) S. R. Koenning et al. Plant Dis. 90:973, 2006. (3) R. W. Schneider et al. Plant Dis. 89:774, 2005.
