b'Image collected from BASF-sponsored seed treatment trial targeting SCN. (L) Base Seed Treatment (Fungicide + Insecticide) (R) ILEVO Seed Treatment + Base ST. Photo: BASFare prone to have SCN. New fields and counties are foundJeff Kaiser, seed treatment technical services manager at to be infested with SCN every year, he says. On a fieldNufarm. The companyestablished in Australia more scale, the yields of soybean varieties with ineffective butthan 100 years agois a leading global manufacturer extremely common SCN resistance genes from a breedingand supplier of crop protection and seed treatment.line called PI88788 can be 22 bushels per acre less thanCurrent defense options within the soybean plant yields of soybean varieties developed with the uncom-which include the PI88788 and Peking genewere mon, but effective SCN resistance breeding line calledsome of the early defense mechanisms available in soy-Peking. At $9 beans, 22 bu/ac is a $200 per acre yield lossbean varieties. These traits provided acceptable levels of and with $17 soybeans, its $374 per acre yield loss. Thisprotection in soybean production when the targeted APH is staggering. for soybeans was in the 50-bushel range. The traits avail-Unfortunately for growers, there typically isnt anyable are not enough protection for the soybean seed in visible, above-ground damage due to SCN, says Jeremiahtodays yield environment. Mullock, product manager of seed treatment at BASFsKaiser adds that early awareness programs in 2010 Triangle Park, North Carolina, one of largest chemicalhave increased awareness in areas of soybean production producers in the world. impacted by SCN pressures. Also, seed treatment products Despite being a large contributor to yield loss, therethat are biological in type have entered the market and are often no above-ground symptoms to SCN, he says.exited the market due to poor consistency in performance The main protection against SCN has relied on nativeand treating challenges.traits. However, the nematode is becoming resistant toCurrently, there is also a chemistry-based product that a main resistance source (PI88788) leading to additionalprotects the soybean crop that has some crop tolerance yield loss and increased nematode populations. concerns in cool conditions and when used in combina-tion with a class of pre-emerge herbicides for soybeans.Seven Decade HistoryWhile SCN is a pest that is not native to the main soy- What Will Help? bean growing area in the central part of the U.S., it wasWhile this is a tough problem, there are treatments that brought there in the mid-1950s from seeds outside theare proving to be very helpful. For example, Nufarm country and has been a yield-robbing pest ever since. released Trunemco (currently being proposed for registra-SCN was first detected in 1954 in North Carolina andtion by Health Canada), a nematode management seed has since been moving northwards up to Canada, saystreatment that provides protection to the soybean plant 40GERMINATION.CASEPTEMBER 2022'