P-523 - Exploring the Effects of Benzothiadiazole (BTH) Seed Treatment on Soybean Disease Suppression

Soybean production faces several challenges, mainly due to yield-limiting biotic stresses. The persistence of fungal pathogens and their increasing resistance to current fungicides highlights the need for the development of advanced and sustainable crop protection strategies. Seed priming has emerged as a promising approach to enhance soybean resilience through the early activation of the plant immune system. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a salicylic acid synthetic analog, 2, 1, 3-Benzothiadiazole (BTH), as a seed priming agent to increase soybean resilience against Rhizoctonia solani AG-4 and natural infection of Cercospora spp. in field condition. Soybean seeds were treated with 1mM BTH alongside other treatments including commercial fungicide for comparison and grown in greenhouse facility and growth chamber. Seven-day-old seedlings were inoculated with mycelial plugs of R. solani, and disease severity was scored ten days post-inoculation. In the field, the same treatments were applied to soybean seeds, and symptoms of naturally occurring Cercospora leaf blight were quantified using a scoring guide. Preliminary results showed the ability of BTH to promote plant growth and reduce disease severity of Rhizoctonia in controlled environments and Cercospora leaf blight in field conditions. Currently, we are characterizing microbiomes and defense reactions in the soybean plants seed-primed with BTH to elucidate the underlying mechanism of their enhanced disease resistance.