Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76This unmatched triple action protects soybean plants against first- and second-generation nematodes through ILeVO and VOTiVO respectively; and by the time the third-generation nematodes appear, the plants are strong enough to resist them, not least thanks to the growth-boosting effects of Poncho/VOTiVO. In soybean field trials this triple-action protection has been seen to bring an average yield advantage of 5.4 bu/A. /A. / Fighting nematodes in the U.S. and Brazil Corn growers in the U.S. have been able to combat nematodes since 2011 when Bayer combined Poncho with VOTiVO. The uniqueness of VOTiVO is that the bacterial spores germinate at the same time as the seed and colonize the roots as they grow. As a result, growers have seen an average yield increase of 10 bu/A with Poncho /A with Poncho / / VOTiVO compared to seed treated with a fungicide system. Due to its added value, Poncho/VOTiVO has become the seed treatment of choice among U.S. corn growers, and it is applied on over 40 million ac of corn each year. Just like in the U.S., many farmers and researchers in Brazil didn’t realize that the damage being done to crops was due to nematodes. Brazil is the world’s leading soybean producer, growing soybeans on 34 million ha. “There are no cultivated plants potentially free of all nematode species, and they can damage 5–35% of growing areas,” says Siegfrid Baumann, Bayer SeedGrowth manager in Brazil. To monitor the damage caused by nematodes across the vast expanses of Brazil’s agricultural land, Bayer has developed an aerial monitoring service known as Drone CropStar™ , revealing lighter areas in soybean or corn fields where the crop has been damaged. “Since 2012 we have intensified soil sampling and surveys to identify key areas with nematode problems,” says Baumann. “When we cross-reference data collected from soil analysis with aerial images made by the drone, we are able to identify the incidence of outbreaks and then work on managing and controlling the pest.” Drone CropStar was launched at the 32nd Brazilian Congress of Nematology in June 2015 and is currently awaiting authorization from Brazil’s Civil Aviation Agency for widespread deployment. Bayer’s nematode research For decades, only a few nematicide innovations have been brought to market and many existing solutions have faced severe restrictions due to toxicological or environmental concerns. So Bayer is now focusing its research on inno- vative solutions. Fluopyram is one of them and showed impressive broad-spectrum nematicidal potential at very low rates. Marc Rist, one of Bayer’s nematode specialists, explains how it works: “By preventing the formation of ade- nosine triphosphate molecules (ATP) fluopyram interrupts the nematodes’ energy supply with the result that they become paralyzed and finally die.” Fluopyram, which is marketed as Velum™ as Velum™ as Velum , Verango™ ,ILeVO and COPeO™ , is only one player ™ , is only one player ™ in Bayer’s complementary approach. Bayer’s research and development work on chemical and biological crop protection products is complemented by its own research into traits to combat SCN and by cooperative research to breed nematode-resistant vegetable varieties. These strategies are delivering best-in-class integrated crop solutions to tackle, in particular, the plant-parasitic root knot and cyst nematodes that are damaging crops all over the world. n Untreated corn seedling: There are fewer root cortical aerenchymal (RCA) cells. The VOTiVO effect: Bacterial treatment increases RCA for improved nutrient uptake and water use.