Soybean Aphid: USDA PIPE Website and Mid-July Report

Eileen Cullen, Extension Entomologist, UW Entomology Department

USDA PIPE Website

A new USDA website is up and running with weekly soybean aphid reports from multiple locations within WI and the U.S. The Pest Information Platform for Extension and Education (PIPE) http://www.sbrusa.net/ began with sentinel plot monitoring throughout the U.S. for soybean rust. In 2006, PIPE has expanded with a pilot soybean aphid reporting year.

Instructions are provided on the home page for navigating the site, both Soybean Rust and Soybean Aphid interfaces. A color coded map is updated weekly for soybean rust and soybean aphid, respectively.  In the case of soybean rust, most of the country is blanketed with green dots (“scouted, not found”), with the exception of positive detections in southeastern U.S. The soybean aphid interface map has its own color coded map where you can track aphid population densities regionally and nationally. Both interfaces include commentary from Extension Entomologists and Plant Pathologists, respectively. UW Extension County Faculty provide weekly soybean aphid reports for the pilot year 2006, as well as the more extensive soybean rust scouting locations. Additionally, the PIPE site provides links to scouting guidelines, management tools and other relevant information to managing soybean aphid during the 2006 season.

I’ve excerpted the information below from our Wisconsin soybean aphid update to PIPE http://www.sbrusa.net/ as of July 11^th, 2006.

Mid-July Report

Soybean aphid densities have remained low in Wisconsin through the first week of July. Soybean aphid sentinel plots have reported field averages of either 0 or less than 30 aphids per plant as of July 11th, 2006. While individual plants can be found in infested fields with dozens, or in some cases higher numbers of aphids per plant (hundreds), average field counts are still well below threshold. UW Madison Entomology plots at Arlington and West Madison, both in southern WI are below threshold. During the UW Extension grain crops teleconference July 7^th, Pierce County (NW Wisconsin) Agriculture Agent Greg Andrews reported low aphid densities overall; as well as two commercial fields that have been recommended for treatment as they had reached threshold (average 250 aphids/plant over 80% of field; actively increasing population).

No soybean aphids have been recorded from WI suction traps at 6 locations statewide, and only 1 winged soybean aphid from a 7th location in Southeast WI (Walworth Co.) http://www.ncipmc.org/traps/.

Continue to scout for soybean aphid. Although WI soybean aphid densities have remained low to mid-July, the crop is entering early reproductive stage (beginning bloom). From now through beginning seed pod development (R5); regular scouting will remain critical to detect actively increasing populations from currently low infestation levels. Weather, temperature, and natural enemies (predators and parasitoids) all play a role in whether soybean aphid will increase to threshold level. Current low infestations should be scouted weekly now for population increase/decline.

The following statewide infestation/population density summary is provided courtesy of the WI Department of Agriculture Pest Survey http://pestbulletin.wi.gov/ and is current through July 7th, 2006. Updates are posted to the WI DATP statewide survey under Soybeans, each Friday. Please visit the WI Pest Bulletin for weekly Wisconsin survey updates.

Soybean aphid infestations detected for the week ending July 7th were as follows: Columbia Co. 75-85% infestation with 1.4-2.2 aphids per plant; Dodge Co. 85-90% infestation with an average of 1.45-1.7 aphids per plant; Dane Co. 55-90% infestation with an average of 0.75-2.2 aphids per plant; Green Co. 40% infestation with an average of 0.5 aphids per plant; Iowa Co. 60% infestation with an average of 1.1 aphids per plant; Jefferson Co. 55% infestation with an average of 0.75 per plant; Ozaukee Co. 95% infestation with an average of 1.9 per plant; Rock 85-95% infestation with an average of 2.0-3.1 aphids per plant; Sauk Co. 55-60% infestation with an average of 0.74-1.4 aphids per plant; Walworth Co. 80%infestation with an average of 1.5 aphids per plant; and Washington Co. 100% infestation with an average of 2.1 aphid per plant.