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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Urbana, Illinois » Soybean/maize Germplasm, Pathology, and Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #281849

Title: A public program to evaluate commercial soybean cultivars

Author
item CHAWLA, SHILPI - University Of Illinois
item Bowen, Charles
item SLAMINKO, TARA - University Of Illinois
item HOBBS, HOUSTON - University Of Illinois
item Hartman, Glen

Submitted to: Plant Disease
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/21/2013
Publication Date: 5/1/2013
Citation: Chawla, S., Bowen, C.R., Slaminko, T., Hobbs, H., Hartman, G.L. 2013. A public program to evaluate commercial soybean cultivars. Plant Disease. 97(5):568-578.

Interpretive Summary: The information generated through the evaluation of soybean cultivars entered into the program provides an independent, objective, and unbiased assessment of hundreds of soybean cultivars used or targeted for use in maturity groups representing the majority of soybean acreage in the United States. The service enables growers to effectively compare disease and pest resistance traits for soybean cultivars from multiple companies. This information, along with other agronomic traits, provides a basis for producers to compare and select cultivars. In areas where specific pests or diseases are common, such information helps producers make crop management decisions by identifying cultivars with traits of interest. The relatively short product life of most commercial cultivars as well as the consistent quality of data coming from the program makes the timely and independent information from VIPS valuable to the many stakeholders in Illinois agriculture. This information is ueful to scientists in industry, and others interesed in commercial soybean cultivars.

Technical Abstract: The information generated through the evaluation of soybean cultivars entered into the Varietal Information Program for Soybeans (VIPS) provides an independent, objective, and unbiased assessment of hundreds of soybean cultivars used or targeted for use in maturity groups representing the majority of soybean acreage in the United States. Soybeans cultivars have been evaluated for resistance to a total of 12 pathogens and pests from 1998 to 2011. Not all of these have been used to evaluate soybean cultivars in VIPS each year, but a few diseases like Phytophthora root rot, Sclerotinia stem rot, soybean aphid, Soybean mosaic virus, and sudden death syndrome have been evaluated most consistently. Five soybean pathogens or pests were used to evaluate the VIPS cultivars for resistance in the greenhouse in 2011. In addition to the designed greenhouse and laboratory evaluations, resistance evaluations are often assessed at the 13 Variety Testing Program locations when disease pressure is sufficient and widespread. This paper summerizes the efforts and results of the evaluation of soybean cultivars to selected pathogens and pests.