Legume ipmPIPE: A New Option for Generating, Summarizing, and Disseminating Real-Time Pest Data to Stakeholders

The Legume Integrated Pest Management Pest Information Platform for Extension and Education (ipmPIPE) leverages a variety of programs and resources based on data collected from legume sentinel or mobile plots in as many as 25 states and in Canada and Mexico through collaborations with in-country scientists. It identified priority fungal, bacterial, and viral pathogens or diseases and insect pests (including pathogen vectors) for monitoring based upon sampling and diagnostic protocols, and kit-based high output viral immunoassays for use by National Plant Diagnostic Network (NPDN) labs. Another key feature of the Legume ipmPIPE is its enhanced communication between scientists specializing in legumes and collated data reporting from across the United States. It capitalizes upon a Web-based platform for information access and display to extension educators, research scientists, industry, and other stakeholders with a portfolio of management and education tools. Project specialists have distributed a set of 24 pocket sized cards (print and online versions) to legume stakeholders and integrated pest management personnel that improves the accuracy of plant growth stage descriptions, plant pathogen or disease and insect pest diagnostics for legume crops such as common bean, chickpea, lentil, field pea, lima bean, and cowpea. The goal of the Legume ipmPIPE is to identify causes of losses (yield, quality, economic) in legumes and assist producers in minimizing those losses by implementing integrated pest management of pathogens and insect pests.