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Ohio: Detection and Management of Soybean Cyst Nematode

By Harold Willson, IPM Coordinator, and Richard Riedel, Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University

Checking soil

In Ohio, soybean production generates approximately one billion dollars per year. Prior to 1991, the Soybean Cyst Nematode (SCN) was assumed to be limited to two counties.

In 1991, a survey indicated expanded SCN distribution in Ohio. Ohio State University (OSU) Extension IPM personnel surveyed soybean producing counties to determine SCN distribution.

Over a four-year period, 667 field sites in 63 Ohio counties were sampled, SCN was found in 43 counties, 80 percent of Ohio's total soybean production area.

Soil samples from 90 SCn-positive field sites indentified the abundance and distribution of eight SCN race types and provided information about SCN resistant varieties.

Concurrently, a series of field trials compared SCN resistant to non-resistant soybean varieties. In SCN infested soils, yields for SCN resistant varieties were 15 percent greater than widely used non-resistant varieties.

In a recent survey of Ohio field crop pest priorities, SCN ranked high compared to other soybean disease and insect problems, demonstrating a growing aweareness of this soybean production problem among Ohio agriculturists.

Current extension and research efforts are focused on using resistent varieties and selecting optimal crop rotation practices.

From North Central Region Extension Publication NCR 599. Part of the North Central Region National IPM Network Site.