APS Abstract of Presentation

A geographic information systems (GIS) analysis of soybean rust distribution at the field level
P. E. MUMMA (1), R. W. Schneider (1), L. Wang (1)
(1) Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
Phytopathology 98:S110

Since the discovery of soybean rust in the continental United States in 2004, there has been considerable interest in epidemiological details related to long distance and local spread of the disease. In this study, a geographical information systems (GIS) analysis was used to investigate within-field disease distribution. Research was focused on determining the extent of spatial and temporal variability of soybean rust with regard to soil nutrients, soil compaction, leaf nutrients, percent canopy coverage, soil moisture, and plant height and their interactions. The study areas included three soybean fields with a total area of about 15 acres. The fields were located close to Baton Rouge, LA. Using a grid pattern, each field was divided into 50 sample sites, and GPS coordinates were recorded at each site. The sites were rated twice during the 2007 growing season to quantitatively assess disease severity. ArcMap was used to perform exploratory data analysis, including correlations among variables, variogram analysis of the spatial structure of each variable, and surface interpolation, with the results being displayed graphically. These results will be presented and discussed.

return to top