Seed treatments associated with resistance inducers for management of Pratylenchus brachyurus in soybean

Abstract

Pratylenchus brachyurus is one of the main limiting factors of soybean yield in Brazil, particularly because of inefficiency of the control methods when used individually. The present study aimed to assess the effect of associated methods, using seed treatment with nematicides (ST) and resistance inducers (RI), on nematode control in soybean plant in both field and greenhouse conditions. A field assay was conducted in an infested field and nematode population was assessed at sowing, 45, 75, and 100 days after sowing and the yield measured at end of crop cycle. The experiment was repeated in greenhouse. In another experiment, that was conducted in two different periods in a greenhouse, seed treatments and resistance inducers, alone or combined, were assessed under two initial populations of P. brachyurus (low IP = 500 specimens and high IP = 2000 specimens). The treatments did not reduce the number of nematodes g−1 of root in field assay, but all seed treatments effectively controlled nematode population in the greenhouse assay. Most treatments reduced the number of nematodes g−1 of root when nematode initial population was low (IP = 500) but when initial nematode population was high (IP = 2000) combinations of treatments which includes abamectin inhibited P. brachyurus reproduction. Chemical products did not affect yield but acibenzolar-S-methyl, alone or associated with other products, generally inhibit plant growth.