Spotlight Archive

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Erik Stromberg, interim head of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science, retrieves a trap sample at the Eastern Virginia Agricultural Research and Extension Center at Warsaw that will warn of Asian Soybean Rust, a crop-devastating fungus growers are looking out for this planting season. The devices are in one of the “sentinel” fields planted to gather information as early as possible to provide warning to the state’s soybean producers. Virginia Tech researchers are particularly alert for the spread of Asian Soybean Rust because it is spread by wind-borne spores and the storms of the last two weeks could have accelerated its move nearer to Virginia.