Pathogenic Variation of South American Phakopsora pachyrhizi Populations Isolated from Soybeans from 2010 to 2015

Soybean rust caused by Phakopsora pachyrhizi is one of the most serious economic threats to soybean production in South America. A previous study using South American P. pachyrhizi populations collected between 2007/2008 and 2009/2010 revealed the pathogenic diversity in Argentinean, Brazilian, and Paraguayan rust populations. Because such pathogenic diversity has been a major constraint to the breeding program for soybean rust resistance, pathogen populations were continuously monitored throughout the 2010/2011 to 2014/2015 seasons using the same method of evaluating pathogenicity as used in the previous study. None of the 83 P. pachyrhizi samples collected from the three countries from 2010/2011 to 2014/2015 yielded identical pathogenicity patterns in the 16 differentials, thus demonstrating the pathogenic diversity of more recent South American rust populations. Cluster analysis using a total of 145 rust populations from 2007 to 2015 demonstrated that the Argentinean, Brazilian, and Paraguayan populations were not assigned to three distinct country-based groups. The analysis indicated that a majority of South American populations differed in pathogenicity compared with Japanese rust races. The rates of resistance to the rust populations varied among the 13 differentials carrying Rpp genes; the most effective resistance gene was Rpp1-b followed by Rpp5, and the least effective was Rpp1.