Pathogenic Diversity of Phytophthora sojae in Ohio Soybean Fields

Problems with early season soybean stand establishment, and an increase in incidence of Phytophthora root and stem rot caused by Phytophthora sojae, prompted a reassessment of the pathogen population in Ohio. Earlier studies had indicated a potential for pathogen adaptation to commonly deployed Rps genes in soybeans. Fifty-seven fields, part of an earlier study in 1990 and 1991, along with 29 additional fields were sampled in either 1997 or 1999. Two soybean cultivars, Sloan (rps) and Resnik (Rps1k), were used as bait in a seedling bioassay to isolate P. sojae from the soil samples. P. sojae was recovered from 82 of the 86 fields sampled. Of the 429 isolates recovered from these soils, 325 and 104 were baited with soybean cultivars Sloan and Resnik, respectively. The P. sojae population in Ohio increased in the number of pathotypes (races) as well as in complexity since the earlier surveys. There were 72 and 202 pathotypes identified on 8 and 13 Rps gene differentials, respectively, in the current study. When the data were compared by location, 96, 65, 73, 78, 51, and 52% of the locations had at least one isolate with virulences to Rps1a, Rps1b, Rps1c, Rps1k, Rps3a, and Rps6, respectively. The mean complexity, the number of susceptible interactions on 8 differentials, increased from 3.01 to 4.06 between 1991 and 1997/1999. In addition, the pathogenic diversity as measured by the Shannon index increased from 2.71 to 3.28 for isolates recovered from the 57 fields sampled in both surveys. Producers whose fields were sampled were surveyed to determine if changes in the P. sojae population could be linked with production practices. There was a significant association between (P ≤ 0.05) reduced tillage practices and the presence of isolates that had virulence to Rps1k; reduced tillage fields also had isolates with virulence to a greater number of differentials. Due to the percentage of isolates that have virulence to many of the Rps genes, it is questionable how long a single Rps gene or several stacked Rps genes will remain viable disease management tools for P. sojae, unless a novel Rps gene is identified.