Fall is a perfect time to sample soybean fieldso for soybean cyst nematodes

In addition to the weed plants, some crop plants have been tested with Ohio populations and found to make good hosts for SCN.

The Iowa State University Plant and Insect Diagnostic Clinic analyzes soil and root samples for plant-parasitic nematodes that feed on corn.

Soybean cyst nematodes have the potential to cause devastating yield losses, population densities can increase very rapidly within a single growing season, and dormant eggs can survive for more than a decade in infested soils in the absence of soybeans.

Interest in plant-parasitic nematodes as pathogens of corn is greater now than in the past 20 years, but little research on the biology, scouting and management of nematode parasites of corn has been done since the 1980s.

Bayer CropScience and Monsanto Company have entered into an exclusive agreement on the use of Poncho/Votivo seed treatment.

Bayer CropScience announced today that it will launch a revolutionary new biocontrol seed treatment in no-till corn, soybeans and cotton for the 2011 season. Select growers and seed companies will be able to test Votivo biological seed treatment on their farms in 2010 for a firsthand look at its unique protective properties, says product manager Paul Hewitt.

Cool, wet growing conditions this year have increased disease pressure in some no-till soybean fields, cutting into yields and crop quality.