Brazil soy growers hopeful of anti-rust success

Brazilian soybean growers are hopeful of a second consecutive year of combating Asian soybean rust ( Phakopsora pachyrhizi), newswire Agrolink reports. There had been just 15 incidences of rust by the start of 2012, suggesting that predictions of more widespread incidence were wide of the mark ( Agrow No 629, p 17). Last season saw the lowest incidence since 2004/05, and the level of damage was some 70% lower than the previous year. The report attributes the result to the improved use of fungicides, the use of more resistant varieties, and the adoption of the 90-day isolation period between harvests. In Mato Grosso state, the incidence of rust fell from 600 cases in 2009/10 to 50 last year, while no occurrence has yet been reported this season. The first incidence this season came in early December in Goais state ( Agrow No 630, p 18). The accumulated cost of the disease over the past ten years has reached $19,700 million.