An annual Purdue University crop management book is adding insight to injury.

The 2005 Corn and Soybean Field Guide contains an expanded entry on herbicide injury, including color photos and a chapter on identifying herbicide damage.

"When we put the 2005 edition together, we decided to enhance the herbicide injury section," said Corey Gerber, director of Purdue's Crop Diagnostic Training and Research Center and field guide project coordinator.

"This year we've added pictures of herbicide injury on corn and soybeans. We also added a diagnostic tool that helps individuals if they suspect herbicide injury. They can use the diagnostic tool to determine what mode of action caused the injury."

The additional features helped increase the 2005 guide by about 30 pages over its 2004 predecessor, Gerber said. The 2005 edition runs 240 pages but is slimmer than previous editions because it is printed on higher-quality paper.

Known affectionately as the "pocket guide," the little yellow book has been an agronomic tradition for 17 years. In 2004 all 15,000 copies of the field guide were sold by September.

"This year we've printed a couple thousand extra books," Gerber said. "But by the way they're selling already I would expect that by early summer we'll be sold out."

Within its pages the field guide provides management advice and information on a variety of corn and soybean issues, including fertility, growth stages, replanting, insects, weeds, plant diseases and soil compaction. The guide also contains row spacing and sprayer calibration charts, assorted conversion tables and contact information
for Purdue Extension specialists in the departments of agronomy, agricultural and biological engineering, botany and plant pathology, and entomology.

"We've even got information on submitting samples to Purdue's Plant and Pest Diagnostic Laboratory if a farmer suspects a field has been infected with soybean rust," Gerber said.

To make it easier for farmers to find what they're looking for, each of the field guide's four major sections is color-coded.

While the field guide is updated every year, some parts undergo more extensive changes, Gerber said.

"The main things that change year in and year out are the pesticides listed in our tables," he said. "Each year you see different insecticides or herbicides coming onto or going off the market. We update these charts to let people know what is available among insecticides and herbicides. We also include fungicides."

Thirteen Extension specialists representing the departments listed above contributed content and/or photographs for the field guide. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services also contributed material.

The field guide is $6 and is available by calling the toll-free Purdue Extension hotline at (888) 398-4636 (EXT-INFO) and asking for the Media Distribution Center. The publication code for the field guide is ID-179.

An order form can be downloaded online at http://www.agry.purdue.edu/dtc/guide.html. The Web page also contains a link for viewing sample pages from the 2005 edition.

Writer: Steve Leer

Related Web sites:

Purdue Crop Diagnostic Training and Research Center: http://www.agry.purdue.edu/dtc/

Purdue Department of Agronomy: http://www.agry.purdue.edu/