US soyabean rust findings this year moved closer to doubling the 2005 total as new cases of the yield-cutting fungus were found in Florida and Alabama, the Agriculture Department said on Wednesday.
Soya rust, which can slash crop yields by up to 80 percent if left untreated, has been found in 260 counties in 15 states this year. Last year, the fungus was detected in 138 counties in nine states. The latest US finding, in central Alabama, was in a soyabean sentinel plot in Elmore County, near Montgomery. The soyabeans were in the R8 growth stage, meaning they were fully mature.
USDA said new cases of rust were not expected in low areas in central and northern Alabama due to frost that has killed kudzu, a fast-growing vine. In Florida, new infections were found on several kudzu sites in Calhoun, Jackson, and Okaloosa counties.
"With the recurrence of rainfall it is expected that this will continue until first frost," USDA said on its rust-monitoring Web site. The Florida panhandle's average first frost date is November 15.
Soyabean rust has been found this year in 40 counties in North Carolina, 28 in Arkansas, 24 in Louisiana, 22 in Alabama, 21 in South Carolina, 19 in Tennessee, 21 in Florida, 18 in Kentucky, 17 in Virginia, 15 in Georgia, nine in Mississippi, eight in Illinois, seven in Texas, six in Indiana and five in Missouri.
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