New anomaly in soybean culture: pod rot in production systems

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In the last three seasons, the occurrence of grain and pod rot in the final stage of formation has been observed in soybean crops. The occurrence of this anomaly, so far, is located in the municipalities of the mid-northern region of Mato Grosso. This region corresponds to 31% of the soybean sown area in the state and reports of losses due to this problem ranged from 16% to 30% in the 2021/2022 harvest, a potential loss of 59 million bags. Taking the average value of a soybean bag of R$163.85 on 04/22/2022 as a reference, pod rot can generate a loss of R$9.67 billion (IMEA, 2022).As this problem is relatively new, there is no information published so far, only reports obtained from producers and consultants. Information about this anomaly is based on observations of symptoms and it is not yet possible to indicate whether the causal agent is biotic, abiotic or an interaction between both. Consequently, there is no management positioning.However, in visits to the crops in the region, differences were observed between cultivars in terms of the intensity of rotting in grains and pods, identifying some cultivars without the problem or with a lower incidence of symptoms.In the isolations, from grains and pods with and without symptoms, fungal genera already described in soybean culture were found, such as Colletotrichum sp., Cercospora sp., Phomopsis sp., Phoma sp. and Fusarium sp. In addition, a response to the application of fungicides was observed in some crops, which mitigated, but did not solve the problem, with variation between the different programs used by the producers.In view of the observations and analyzes carried out so far, one of the hypotheses for the cause of pod and grain rot is linked to a set of factors related to the favorable environment for the development of phytopathogenic/saprophytic fungi and the greater sensitivity of certain cultivars.To study this problem, this project proposal was elaborated, composed of a multidisciplinary team, with professionals from various public and private research institutions, such as: Embrapa, Fundação Mato Grosso, Fundação Rio Verde, UFMT and EPR Consultoria.

Status: Completed Start date: Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2022 Conclusion date: Sun Dec 31 00:00:00 GMT-03:00 2023

Head Unit: Embrapa Agrosilvopastoral

Project leader: Dulândula Silva Miguel Wruck

Contact: dulandula.wruck@embrapa.br