Effects of Free Moisture and Soybean Growth Stage on Focus Expansion of Rhizoctonia Aerial Blight

Abstract

(...) Simple linear regressions of the disease variables on days after inoculation showed increases in slopes as free moisture increased. Plant growth stage at inoculation also significantly affected the slopes. (...) The radius of a disease focus was a linear function of accumulated free moisture hours. Diseased plants/focus and disease incidence were best fitted with equation Y=3.412(Bt) 2 , where t is time and B are slopes and were proportional to plant growth stage. Correlation coefficients among disease incidence, focus radius, and diseased plants/focus ranged from 0.885 to 0.96 (...)