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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Urbana, Illinois » Soybean/maize Germplasm, Pathology, and Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #305665
Title: A method for determining the severity of Sudden Death Syndrome in soybeans

Author
item CUI, DI - University Of Illinois
item ZHANG, QIN - University Of Illinois
item LI, MING - University Of Illinois
item SLIMINKO, TARA - University Of Illinois
item Hartman, Glen

Submitted to: Transactions of the ASABE
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/1/2014
Publication Date: 3/31/2014
Publication URL: https://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/58980
Citation: Cui, D., Zhang, Q., Li, M., Sliminko, T., Hartman, G.L. 2014. A method for determining the severity of Sudden Death Syndrome in soybeans. Transactions of the ASABE. 57(2):671-678.

Interpretive Summary: Sudden death syndrome (SDS) is caused by the fungus that occurs in most soybean-producing areas. The disease has distinctive foliar symptoms that in some extreme cases may cause complete defolation of plants. This article reports on the development of an image analysis method to quantify SDS severity using a camera under natural light in a laboratory environment. A lesion index (LI) was defined as the ratio of affected leaf area to healthy area for evaluating SDS severity levels on leaves of infected plants. Results demonstrated that the method could provide a feasible means of recording SDS severity in situ that could potentially be used for high-throughput greenhouse evaluation of breeding lines or commercial soybean cultivars. This information is useful for plant pathologists and others interested in evaluating soybeans or other crops for resistance to diseases.

Technical Abstract: Sudden death syndrome (SDS), caused by the fungus Fusarium virguliforme, is a widespread mid- to late- season soybean disease with distinctive foliar symptoms that in some extreme cases may cause nearly 100% yield loss. This article reports on the development of an image analysis method to quantify SDS severity using an RGB camera under natural light in a laboratory environment. An HSI (hue, saturation, and intensity) color space based image processing approach was developed. A lesion index (LI) was defined as the ratio of affected leaf area to healthy area for evaluating SDS severity levels on leaves of infected plants. A method of using the frequency distribution of hue values of whole leaf area to measure the severity of SDS was also investigated. Preliminary results obtained from laboratory-scale validation demonstrated that the developed method could provide a feasible means of recording SDS severity in situ that could potentially be used for high-throughput greenhouse evaluation of breeding lines or commercial soybean cultivars.