USDA - APHIS - Plant Health, Plant Protection and Quarantine

Soybean Rust

Diagnostic Methods for Soybean Rust Identification

Collection and Identification Verification

Samples taken by field workers with symptoms similar to those of soybean rust must first be submitted through your state's university plant disease diagnostic laboratory or your State department of agriculure laboratory.

See the Soybean rust printable sample collection and submisstion instruction document (PDF; 219 Kb) for specific sample collection methods and submission procedures.

A list of the university diagnostic laboratories with contact information can be found at the directory site:
http://www.apsnet.org/directories/univ_diagnosticians.asp

State departments of agriculture contacts can be found in the
National Plant Board Directory

Phakopsora Species Verification Instructions for State or University Diagnostic Laboratories

Do not send samples to the USDA, APHIS National Mycologists in Beltsville, MD without first submitting them to your State's department of agriculture or land grant universities' diagnostic laboratory. This is to screen out other plant diseases that may appear similar to soybean rust. If university or state department's of agriculture laboratories determine the samples submitted to be Phakopsora spp. on soybean or another leguminous hosts, further identification to the species (P. meibomiae or P. pachyrhizi) level will be necessary. There are no Phakopsora species on legume hosts recorded in the continental United States. A new Phakopsora record, because of its potential economic importance, will require verification by a USDA, APHIS National Mycologist in Beltsville, Maryland. Additionally, species determination based on urediniospores is only possible through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) procedures, the primers of which currently reside with USDA.

Diagnostic laboratories should contact Drs. Mary Palm 301-504-7154 or John McKemy at 301-504-5280 if a Phakopsora spp. on a legume host is found. At the same time, the State department of agriculture in the state detected should be contacted before samples are forwarded. After consultation with Drs. Palm or McKemy, samples should be properly secured, documented on the accompanying PPQ form 391 and sent overnight freight to:

Dr. Mary Palm
USDA, APHIS, PPQ, PHP, PSPI
PPQ Molecular Diagnostic Lab
B-580, BARC-East
Powder Mill Rd.
Beltsville MD 20705

Samples should be submitted with a completed PPQ form 391 (PDF; 167 Kb) indicating pertinent collection information. These instructions are repeated in the printable sample collection and submitting document (PDF; 219 Kb).

Survey Information Through the CAPS Program

States wanting to do surveys through the Cooperative Agriculture Pest Survey (CAPS) program should contact the USDA, APHIS, PPQ State Plant Health Director or the State Survey Coordinator in their state for more information.