Monsanto Co. announced that the EPA issued registration for tioxazafen, branded as NemaStrike Technology, and will allow farmers to utilize the nematicide in 2018, pending state approvals.

NemaStrike Technology will be offered as part of Acceleron Seed Applied Solutions and will provide a novel mode of action that stays in the root zone where nematodes attack. It offers broad-spectrum control of plant parasitic nematodes and consistent yield protection performance in corn, soybeans and cotton.

Plant parasitic nematodes are microscopic roundworms in the soil that hurt corn, soybean and cotton yields by feeding on plant roots, facilitating bacterial and fungal infections, and spreading viruses. Nematode damage is often mistaken as other issues in the field, so growers do not always recognize they have a problem. However, EPA has stated that plant parasitic nematodes cause an estimated 14% loss in agriculture production worldwide, with $80-100 billion worth of crop losses every year globally.*

Over the last 3 years in Monsanto product development field trials, NemaStrike Technology provided a yield protection performance advantage over the competitive standard of 7 bushels per acre with a 73% positive response rate in corn, 3 bushels per acre with a 68% positive response rate in soybeans, and 80 pounds lint per acre with an 86% positive response rate in cotton (results varied based on nematode pressure in each field).

Visit www.NemaStrikeTechnology.com to stay up to date on the technology.

*Source: Review of the Benefits of Proposed Tioxazafen Registration as a Seed Treatment Nematicide in Com, Cotton, and Soybeans; Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention; United States Environmental Protection Agency; Jan. 17, 2017.