Agricultural Consulting and Testing Services
A.C.T.S.
Agricultural Consulting and Testing Services
17434 Noble Avenue
Carroll, Iowa 51401
Phone and FAX 712-792-3966


Staff and Facilities

Confidentiality

What we do:

Screens Soybeans for Resistance to Diseases

Screening Services offered by ACTS
Brown Stem Rot
Phytophthora
Soybean Cyst Nematode
Sudden Death Syndrome
Phytophthora tolerance
White mold

Diagnostics
 Foliar Diseases on corn and soybeans
Check soil for Soybean Cyst Nematode
Verify race of Soybean Cyst Nematode

Click here for a Printable Submission Form for Foliar Disease
Click here for a Printable Submission Form for Soybean Cyst Nematode Egg Count


A.C.T.S. Staff and Facilities:

A.C.T.S. has a laboratory and greenhouse facility specifically designed for work with plant diseases. The greenhouse has a controlled environment with artificial lighting. Our laboratory is equipped with transfer hoods, microscopic equipment, a light bank for growing out cultures, and sieving equipment for working with nematodes. The facilities are located in rural Carroll County. Appropriate sites for field evaluations are nearby.

A.C.T.S. staff includes two plant pathologists:

Ralph von Qualen earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in plant pathology from Purdue University. He has worked in field, laboratory and greenhouse evaluations of fungal and nematode diseases in soybeans and corn.

Sharon von Qualen earned her B.Sc. in plant pathology from Iowa State University and her M.S. degree from Purdue University and has also worked in field, laboratory and greenhouse evaluations of plants for fungal disease resistance.

Statement of confidentiality:

Results of these studies shall be kept in confidence.




Screening for resistance to Phytophthora: The exact races to be used will be determined by A.C.T.S. and client – depending on the Rps genes thought to be present and the races of concern in production areas. We get consistent results with races 1,3 and 4. Phytophthora sojae races in the greenhouse. The respective disease reaction will be recorded ten days later. Standard soybean varieties with known reactions to selected races will be included in the test. Thirty individual plants per variety per race will be rated: resistant, moderately resistant, moderately susceptible, or susceptible. The final report will include a summary indicating the type of resistance (i.e., Rps allele present) indicated by these tests

Cost for this test will be $16.50 per race per variety entered.
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Screening for tolerance to Phytophthora:
 A layer of Phytophthora sojae race 25 is placed to the medium in which seedlings are growing. Plants will be compared in their reaction to soybean varieties of known tolerance after two weeks. Results are consistent with other reports.
Cost for this test will be $16.50 per race or cocktail per variety entered.
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Screening for resistance to Soybean Cyst Nematode:
Soybeans will be grown in soil uniformly infested with Race 3* of the Soybean Cyst Nematode Heterodera glycines. Once female cysts are present on the roots (30–60 days) the number of cysts on plant roots will be counted and compared to the number of cysts on the soybean variety Lee. We will grow four replications for each entry and include the standard variety in each replication. Results have been consistent on check varieties.
Cost for this test will be $16.50 per race per variety entered.
*Race 3 is the predominant race in Iowa. We hope to add other races at a later date.
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Screening for resistance to Sudden Death Syndrome:

Varieties will be grown in the greenhouse and thinned to four plants in each of four replications. At the unifoliate growth stage a pathogenic isolate of Fusarium solani will be placed in the root zone of each plant. Plants will be rated for symptoms every three days after symptoms first appear (about three weeks after inoculation). Varieties recognized as resistant or susceptible to Fusarium solani will be included in the test. Results will be statistically analyzed.

Not offered at this time due to inconsistent results.
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Screening for resistance to Brown Stem Rot:
Enrolled varieties and soybean varieties known to be resistant or susceptible will be grown in the greenhouse. We will dip seventeen-day-old soybean in a suspension of Phialophora gregata propagules and saturate the soil in which these plants are growing with the remaining suspension. Plants will be grown to the R2 growth stage at which time they will be evaluated for Brown Stem Rot symptoms in their leaves and stems. The proportion of nodes having browning will be compared with the amount of browning in varieties known to be resistant or susceptible. The test will be replicated four times with six plants of each variety in each replication. Checks have shown the test to be consistent with field observations.
Cost for this test will be $30.00 per variety entered.
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Screening for resistance to White mold
We are working on a seedling inoculation technique but are not yet satisfied with the results.

We inoculate unifoliate seedlings  on the cotyledon and incubate for one week.   Daily evaluations for ten days yield good correlation with field resistance in standard varieties.   The advantage of this technique is that plants are exposed to inoculum for the same length of time no matter what their maturity group

Cost for this study will be $16.50 per race per variety entered.
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