LONDON, Ont. – Dry edible bean growers have little to fear from Asian soybean rust, a disease rapidly travelling north from South America.
Jim Kelly, a professor at Michigan State University, said unpublished research from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows rust resistance already built into many edible bean varieties also fights off Asian soybean rust.
“I suspect that this particular disease will be a minor disease in beans if at all,” Kelly told scientists attending the fifth Canadian Pulse Research Workshop in London, Ont.
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Spread by airborne spores, the disease was blown northward by hurricane winds in 2004, making its first appearance on North American soil this fall when it was discovered in five U.S. states.
It came from Brazil where it destroyed an estimated 4.5 million tonnes, or nine percent, of the country’s 2003-04 soybean crop.
Manitoba pulse crop specialist Bruce Brolley said Kelly’s comments are the first evidence he has heard that rust resistant beans will also stand up to Asian soybean rust, which is good news for the province’s burgeoning dry edible bean industry.
“That’s just one less thing that our growers have to worry about.”
A lot of the newer navy, pinto and black beans grown in Manitoba have a disease package that includes resistance to rust.
But some type of control may be required for the pink, great northern and older pinto varieties that have no resistance, said Brolley.
According to Kelly, even those types may be safe based on scientific observations from places like South Africa and Brazil where no type of dry edible bean has displayed serious symptoms despite growing alongside infected soybean fields.
There may be minor lesions on the plant stems and leaves but that’s about it because beans evidently are “not a preferred host” for the disease.
Kelly’s prognosis is that Asian soybean rust will be a minor problem for the North American bean industry regardless of whether plants have rust resistance.
Brolley said those are reassuring words but they shouldn’t lure the Canadian pulse industry into complacency.
