Abdulkadir I. Dalha (he/him/his)
Post Doctoral Researcher
Department of Plant Pathology & Crop Physiology, Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States
Tom W. Allen
Extension/Research Professor
Delta Research & Extension Center, Mississippi State University
Stoneville, Mississippi, United States
Jonathan Patrick Amie
LSU
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States
Alyssa Betts, PhD
Associate Professor and Extension Specialist
University of Delaware
Georgetown, Delaware, United States
Mandy Bish, n/a
Assistant Professor
University of Missouri
Columbia, Missouri, United States
Jason Bond
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Carbondale, Illinois, United States
Carl A. Bradley
Extension Professor
University of Kentucky
Princeton, Kentucky, United States
Martin I. Chilvers, n/a
Professor
Michigan State University
EAST LANSING, Michigan, United States
Allysa Collins
Pennsylvania State University
Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, United States
Vinson P. Doyle
Associate Professor
Department of Plant Pathology & Crop Physiology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States
Paul Esker
Penn State
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pennsylvania, United States
Ahmad Fakhoury, n/a
Professor
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, Illinois, United States
Travis R. Faske
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
Lonoke, Arkansas, United States
Lucia Hyzer
University of Wisconsin
Wisconsin, Wisconsin, United States
Fidel E. Jiménez-Beitia
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, USA
Heather Marie Kelly, n/a
Professor
University of Tennessee
Jackson, Tennessee, United States
David Langston, PhD
Professor of Plant Pathology and Extension Specialist
Virginia Tech
Tidewater AREC, Virginia, United States
Horacio D. Lopez-Nicora, Dr.
Assistant Professor
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio, United States
Dean Malvick
Professor
University of Minnesota
St Paul, Minnesota, United States
Dylan Mangel, n/a
Soybean Pathology Extension Specialist
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska, United States
Febina Mathew, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Plant Pathology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102
Fargo, North Dakota, United States
Daren S. Mueller, n/a
Professor
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa, United States
Trey Price, n/a
Associate Professor
Macon Ridge Research Station, Louisiana State University, Winnsboro, LA 71295
Winnsboro, Louisiana, United States
Alexander Richardson
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Wisconsin, Wisconsin, United States
Alejandro Rojas
Assistant Professor
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan, United States
Edward Sikora
Auburn University
Aubrun, Alabama, United States
Ian M. Small, PhD
Associate Professor
University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, North Florida Research and Education Center, Plant Pathology
Quincy, Florida, United States
Damon L. Smith, n/a
Professor
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Darcy Telenko, n/a
Associate professor
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana, United States
Richard Wade Webster, n/a
Assistant Professor and Extension Soybean Pathologist
North Dakota State University
Fargo, North Dakota, United States
Teresa Wilkerson
Mississippi State University
Stoneville, Mississippi, United States
Shalini Yerukala
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Wisconsin, Wisconsin, United States
Jonathan K. Richards
Associate Professor
Department of Plant Pathology & Crop Physiology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States
Sara Thomas-Sharma
Assistant Professor
Department of Plant Pathology & Crop Physiology, Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States
Airborne inoculum plays a crucial role in plant disease development and tracking its concentration and peak spore release timing in relation to the calendar date and soybean growth stage may facilitate early disease outbreak predictions. This study aimed to monitor airborne conidia of the species of Cercospora, responsible for causing Cercospora leaf blight (CLB) of soybean. In the U.S. soybean fields, estimated losses due to CLB range from $46 to 166 million USD. CLB is predominantly caused by Cercospora cf. flagellaris, C. cf. sigesbeckiae, and/or C. kikuchii, and species-specific quantitative PCR assays have been developed to detect these pathogens. Between 2023 and 2024, motor spore traps with Vaseline-coated slides, refreshed weekly, were deployed in soybean fields across 20 states. For 2023, DNA was extracted from 1,036 slides, and the CLB pathogens were detected in 430 slides across 19 states, with none of the species detected in Minnesota during this drought year. The causal agents C. flagellaris, C. sigesbeckiae, and C. kikuchii were detected in 77%, 16%, and 7% of slides, respectively, with all three species detected in only four states. In eight states, C. flagellaris was the sole species detected, while the combinations of C. flagellaris and C. sigesbeckiae were detected in four states, and C. flagellaris and C. kikuchii in three states. In Louisiana and Kentucky, C. sigesbeckiae had the greatest spore count, while C. flagellaris was most frequently observed. Ongoing studies explore the relationship between pathogen detection, CLB outbreak and management.