It ruined nearly 220 million bushels of soybeans in 1997. Further, the nematode has consistently overcome whatever resistance has been available in commercial soybeans. Today, the Hartwig cultivar developed by the University of Missouri is the only commercial bean resistant to all nematode races known to be in farmers' fields. The researchers' new approach is aimed at having a remedy available on the inevitable day when Hartwig-resistant nematodes begin appearing in fields. In greenhouse tests, the scientists bred 30 generations of nematodes on Hartwig plants.
Special precautions keep the new nematode strain safely confined.
Researchers will use it as a test population to get a bead on soybean lines that may hold promise as new sources of natural resistance.