"Pyramiding of Alleles from Multiple Sources Increases the Resistance of Soybean to Highly Virulent Soybean Cyst Nematode Isolates" with Dr. Brian Diers.

One of a farmer's greatest enemies is a nemesis that they never even see. A nematode sounds like a ghastly swamp monster – in reality, it's a microscopic worm that does some big time damage to soybean fields. These little guys love living in the soil and sucking on soybean roots. A bad infestation of soybean cyst nematodes can cost a farmer around 30 to 40% of his or her crop.

So how does one fight a nemesis that is too small to see? You build up a resistance. That's what Dr. Brian Diers is developing through his soybean breeding research. He's been working with crop wild relatives, soybean varieties, and plant breeders to identify sources of resistance and ways to incorporate that resistance into soybean.

This process is a race against time. Resistant soybean varieties are almost entirely from a single source. Nematodes are becoming more and more capable of overcoming this resistance.

Listen in to learn:

• How Dr. Diers team finds a gene location responsible for resistance
• How to visually identify nematode infestation
• How to create a genetic marker
• How a polymerase chain reaction is used in genetics research

If you would like more information about this topic, today's paper is available here: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.2135/cropsci2016.12.1007

It will be freely available from 16 November to 30 November, 2018.

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If you would like to reach out to Brian, you can find him here: [email protected] https://cropsciences.illinois.edu/people/profile/bdiers http://soybeaninnovationlab.illinois.edu/team-members http://www.tropicalsoybean.com/tropical-soybean-university/brian-diers

Resources

CEU Quiz: http://www.agronomy.org/education/classroom/classes/828

State Extension programs: https://nifa.usda.gov/extension

Find your State Extension program: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/extension-search

United Soybean Board, Soybean Checkoff program: http://unitedsoybean.org/

Brian's Other Crop Science Papers "Impact of Soybean Cyst Nematode Resistance on Soybean Yield" http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.2135/cropsci2016.07.0628

"Fine Mapping of the SCN Resistance QTL cqSCN-006 and cqSCN-007 from Glycine soja PI 468916" http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.2135/cropsci2012.07.0425

Field, Lab, Earth is copyrighted to the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.