Managing Soybean Resistance to Heterodera glycines

Heterodera glycines is an economically important pest of soybean in the United States. The steps necessary to manage this nematode are to sample for inoculum density, identify the race present, and then select appropriate control measures. Planting resistant cultivars is the most widely used management practice, and this tactic has provided enormous economic benefits. However, the nematode has adapted to each source of resistance deployed. The time required for the nematode to adapt to resistant cultivars is lengthened by including nonhost crops and susceptible cultivars in rotations with resistant cultivars. Searching for new sources of resistance and developing more techniques to prolong the effectiveness of resistance genes are necessary to maintain profitability for soybean producers.