Update:
- Received seed from seed and seed-treatment companies for 2018 field experiments, designed the 2018 field experiments, and packaged and organized the seeds for the various experiments.
- Set up, planted, soil sampled, and maintained nine field experiments located throughout Iowa to evaluate the yield enhancement and nematode control provided by nearly 200 SCN-resistant soybean varieties.
- Set up, planted, soil sampled, and maintained field experiments located throughout Iowa to evaluate the agronomic performance and nematode control provided by four different nematode-protectant seed treatments - namely Aveo (from Valent), Nemastrike (from Monsanto), and Trunemco (from BASF). There were 9 experiments established for each of the 3 nematode-protectant seed treatments.
- Extracted SCN cysts (egg-filled dead SCN females), then eggs, from soil samples collected from all 9 resistant variety evaluation experiments and the 27 seed treatment experiments to determine initial SCN egg population densities.
- Began trimming the field research plots (variety evaluation and seed treatment experiments) at the 36 experiments located throughout the state in preparation for harvesting, which likely will begin on October 1, 2018.
- Contacted more than 50 seed companies and gathered information about SCN-resistant soybean varieties to use to update the ISU Extension publication titled “Soybean Cyst Nematode-Resistant Soybean Varieties for Iowa”.
- Continued to work on a manuscript to be submitted to the online journal Plant Health Progress that summarizes three years of coordinated ISA On-Farm Network and ISU small-plot experiments evaluating the agronomic benefit and nematode control provided by Ilevo seed treatment (ISA scientists Peter Kyveryga and Tristan Mueller are co-authors). Recent work on the paper included preparing yield difference graphs (with versus without Ilevo) using Iowa Soybean Association’s ISOFAST tool.

There were three main outcomes of this project in the past year, all aimed to directly benefit Iowa soybean farmers in their battle to manage SCN: 1) A comprehensive list of SCN-resistant soybean varieties was compiled and created, 2) field experiments were conducted to evaluate the potential management benefits of nearly 200 SCN-resistant soybean varieties and three different nematode-protectant seed treatments in a total of 36 experiments conducted in the 9 crop reporting districts of Iowa, and 3) results of the field experiments were published in an extension report and in a refereed paper in a scientific journal.