News

NemaStrike nematode management tool available in 2018

A new technology has been registered by the EPA to manage crop damaging nematodes in soybeans, corn and cotton.  Monsanto’s Jared Thomas tells Brownfield, pending state approvals, the company’s NemaStrike Technology will be available next season.

“It’s a hydrophobic chemistry, it’s not water soluble so it won’t translocate upward through the plant and it has the ability to stay right in the root zone, which is ideal for nematode management,” Thomas told Brownfield Ag News.  “Additionally, it provides broad spectrum control over nearly every kind of plant parasitic nematode.”

Microscopic nematodes escape visual detection and feed on plant roots causing damage that growers mistake for other issues, said Thomas.

“A lot of times it just looks like problem areas in the field whenever damages do occur that look like either drought stress, fertility deficiency or diseases,” he said.

Monsanto recommends using NemaStrike, a seed applied technology, with other nematode management practices, like crop rotation and nematode resistant varieties.

Three years of field trials showed NemaStrike provided a seven-bushel per acre yield advantage in corn and a 3 bushel advantage in soybeans, according to Monsanto.

AUDIO: Jared Thomas (7 min. MP3)