Update:
COVID-19 has seriously restricted our research for the 4th quarter of the grant. University has minimized workstaff to essential personal only and has encouraged tele-work where possible to minimize presence on campus. We anticipate the lab work will resume back to normal in the fall when classes begin. In the meantime my technician and PD have reduced hours in lab but were able to maintain current cultures not to lose our transgenic soybean cultures. Lines in the greenhouse were harvested for seeds and new plants from the ongoing tissue culture process were moved to greenhouse for seed production.

Work on the dectes stem borer material is on hold as the PD from C.M. Smith’s lab is stuck in Columbia due to the covid-19 pandemic. We have F1 transgenic lines material they can evaluate for molecular analyses and for resistance. Nonetheless we are advancing these lines to the next generation while we wait for her return.

The field plot was planted on May 21 and we have doubled the size of the plot. We are using the same plot as last year and a similar size adjacent for a replicate of the field. as of week of June 20th the field is in mixed shape. The seed planted in the 2019 plot are growing well there is increased weed pressure. The beans in new plot are slow to germinate and look damage. It is possible there is residual herbicide on this plot.