2003 soybean disease and future management

Diseases are an important factor in our management to stabilize soybean yield. Weather in a growing season dictates the types of disease outbreaks. In the past 10 years, outbreaks of diseases have varied from season to season and 2003 was no exception. Early in the season, rainfall was excessive and some fields were flooded. There were reports on occurrence of Phytophthora and seedling diseases in Iowa. Cool and wet early summer was also favorable to white mold infections and the disease appeared in eastern Iowa with reported infections over 70 percent diseased plants in some fields