Soya rust found in fifth state

The highly contagious soyabean rust disease was confirmed in South Carolina, making it the fifth state this year to find the fungus, the US Agriculture Department said on its rust-monitoring Web site.
The disease was discovered in a commercial soyabean field in Hampton County, which is in the far southern part of South Carolina.
Suspicious spores were also found in a commercial soyabean field in South Carolina's Dorchester County. John Mueller, a plant pathologist with Clemson University, said that sample "strongly resembled the pustules" from Hampton County but it was not possible to confirm the spores as soyabean rust.