Figures for article: Soybean rust update for 2006

Daniel S. Egel, Extension Plant Pathologist,
Southwest Purdue Agricultural Center

Figure 2. This graph represents the cumulative number of counties in the United States in which soybean rust was found in the 2005 and up until April 20 of the 2006 season. The first time soybean rust was found in a particular state is noted with red (2005) or blue (2006) postal abbreviations. The fungus that causes soybean rust probably overwinters on actively growing kudzu in the southeastern United States and spreads north and west as kudzu begins to green up and soybean acres are planted. Note that more counties and states have been confirmed with soybean rust as of Apr. 20, 2006 than at the same point in the 2005 season.

Figure 3 The spread of soybean rust (SBR) n the United States as of Dec. 31, 2005 . The green represents areas scouted for SBR on kudzu or soybeans and found negative; the red areas were positive for SBR. Note that SBR was found as far north as Caldwell County, Kentucky and as far west as Liberty County , Texas . The blue line represents the approximate freeze line below which kudzu annually dies back except for protected areas. This map is from the USDA website at http://www.sbrusa.net/ .