Farmers: Now Is The Time To Test For Soybean Cyst Nematode

KENTUCKY SOYBEAN BOARD

PRINCETON, KENTUCKY

It’s no secret that the farm economy is in a significant downturn. The news seems especially disheartening for soybean farmers, as they are on the front lines of the tariff situation with China, which is usually the soybean farmers’ largest export market. The China factor aside, input costs are at record highs and show no signs of dropping. High input costs for seed, fertilizer, crop protection chemistries, labor, equipment, and other necessary items combined with low selling prices means that many farmers are operating at a loss this year. 

One way to help mitigate future losses is to test soil for Soybean Cyst Nematode. The harvest/post-harvest season we are currently in is a great time to do that, says University of Kentucky Extension Plant Pathologist Dr. Carl Bradley, who is stationed at Princeton’s Grain and Forage Center of Excellence. Kentucky Soybean Board Communication Director Rae Wagoner recently sat down with Dr. Bradley and the Board’s Research Coordinator, Scott Mitchell, to record an episode of the Soy Session podcast on this topic. 

Dr. Bradley noted that while Soybean Cyst Nematode has been around for a number of years, it remains the number one yield-robber for soybean farmers in Kentucky and in the United States. “SCN is our number one disease problem in soybean here in Kentucky, and really nationally as well,” he said. “Part of the reason it’s such a problem is that we don’t always see above-ground symptoms. Farmers will notice during harvest, when yields are lower than they had expected – maybe the field looks fine, but there’s a 10 or 20 percent yield loss. That’s why it’s so important to pull soil samples to see how many soybean cyst nematode eggs you have in a field.” 

Mitchell reminded growers that the Soybean Board has set aside funds to offset the cost to growers for their SCN testing. “There is a testing program in Kentucky that can be utilized at no cost to the farmer. The Kentucky Soybean Promotion Board will pay for tests submitted the county extension agents, and while there is a limit to that investment, we have not reached the limit in any of the five years we have been funding this testing.”  

Bradley said that interested farmers should coordinate testing with their county extension agent, and each field should be tested about every third year. “You want to work with your local county extension office. Those samples can be taken to your county office. From there, they'll be sent off and you'll get those results back. It can take a while, depending on the timing. This is the time of year when labs start getting a lot of samples in. So it might be three to four weeks before we get results back. But what that's going to tell you is the number of eggs of the soybean cyst nematode per 100 cc of soil,” he said. “And that will give you an idea of the risk of how much yield loss you might be having in your field, or it might tell you that maybe you don't have a problem, which is great as well. But the thing is, if you don't check, you just really don't know what's going on. This is a pretty easy way to at least see what's happening in regard to soybean cyst nematode populations in your field.” 

The SCN testing program is just one of many projects in which the Kentucky Soybean Board partners with the University of Kentucky to deliver value to soybean farmers in the Commonwealth. While there are limits to the number of tests available per county, that threshold has not been reached in any of the five years this program has been in place. With about 40 percent of the fields sampled thus far showing an SCN egg population of 500 eggs or more per 100ccs of soil, that’s a significant number. That’s almost half of the soybean fields in Kentucky that are almost certainly losing yield (and revenue) to this pest. 

To learn more about our Soybean Cyst Nematode testing, contact your County Agent. This and other episodes of the Soy Session podcast are available on Spotify or on the bottom of the home page at KySoy.org.   ∆

KENTUCKY SOYBEAN BOARD