IS SOYBEAN RUST A CONCERN ON HORTICULTURAL BEANS?
by Steve Bost When soybean rust (SBR) arrived in the United States, the horticultural bean industry understandably was concerned that the disease might pose a threat to these crops, including snap bean, lima bean, kidney bean, southern pea, and English pea.. All are hosts of SBR, as are 87 other species of legumes. In general, SBR is considered a minor problem on horticultural beans, although most information has been obtained with artificial inoculations in greenhouses. SBR has not proven to be a problem on horticultural beans in Brazil. While experimental evidence is lacking, the general consensus is that members of the genus Phaseolus, as a whole, are much less susceptible to SBR than soybeans. Phaseolus includes most of the types of horticultural beans that Tennesseans are likely to grow other than peas (Pisum) and southern peas (Vigna). M.R. Miles, of USDA-ARS, reports that it is difficult to find SBR in fields of Phaseolus in South Africa, even when the adjacent soybeans are heav
