Using an effective seed treatment offers protection for 2021, but test fields going forward. By
4/15/2021 Soybean planting will be in full swing before we know it, and farmers have done all they can to prepare for a top-notch crop in 2021. There’s one thing most are missing, however: Have you tested your fields for soybean cyst nematode (SCN)? If not, you should. The nasty nematode is moving across the soybean belt at a rapid rate. “SCN continues to move into new counties,” says Daren Mueller, plant pathologist at Iowa State University, who says the pest is spreading beyond the Corn Belt into New York and Georgia and claiming new territory with each passing year.
The soybean cyst nematode has been ranked the No. 1 soybean pest in the U.S. Though primarily in the Midwest, the tiny pest has begun its invasion of New York.
Jaime Cummings, field crops and livestock integrated pest management coordinator at Cornell Cooperative Extension, spoke on the emerging challenge Feb. 10 during the virtual Soybean and Small Grains Congress.
The soybean cyst nematode is a microscopic, soil-dwelling roundworm, and it can be highly destructive to soybeans. It can cause more than double the yield loss of white mold.
The nematodeâs prolific reproduction is one of the big reasons it spreads so rapidly.
As soybean growers prepare for planting this season, they’ll be looking for the best option to get their crop out of the ground quickly and protect their crop from yield robbing diseases like Sudden Death Syndrome.
âSudden Death Syndrome is one of the top yield robbing diseases that we have in the US,â says Kevin Scholl, agronomy service representative with Syngenta. He adds that SDS can cause up to 50 percent yield loss in a field.
âThe symptomologies appear earlier and more severe when it occurs in combination with SCN (Soybean Cyst Nematode) infection. This is due to a couple reasons. The SCN opens up the soybean root to allow the infection of the SDS pathogen. Also, these nematodes weaken and stress the plant because it’s a parasite too, and that will also increase the chance of infection from SDS.â
Growers who have dealt with Soybean Cyst Nematode or Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) know that both are perpetual challenges, potentially creating substantial issues when planting into that environment.
Syngenta‘s Saltro fungicide proved to protect against these threats during the 2020 growing season, which was the first it was available commercially.
“It protects the plant against SDS, it protects the plant against Soybean Cyst Nematode,” said Paul Oklesh, Syngenta Seed Care Product Lead for the U.S. Soybean Portfolio. “It keeps that infection level in the roots low, so that if you get the right environmental conditions later in the season that would normally flush those toxins up into the canopy of the plant, you don’t have as much disease pressure in the roots so you don’t see as much disease pressure in the canopy later.”