Brevant seeds, the brand of Corteva Agriscience, offers some sage advice farmers can employ to aid in pest management in the fields.
By Andrew Joseph, Farms.com; Photo via Brevant
Every creature’s gotta eat. But do they have to eat our crops?
The words may differ, but it’s every farmer’s lament—pests eating recently planted seeds and seedlings, munching away potential profits, not to mention food that could be eaten by a hungry nation or two.
In early 2021, Corteva Agriscience retired its Mycogen brand, replacing it with the new brand, Brevant seeds that provides high-performance corn and soybean lineups.
Via Brevant, the company provided some advice on how farmers can better protect their crops and their profits from hungry pests looking to eat into farm profits.
As farmers are aware, early season insects can feed on soybean seeds and seedlings causing plant injury, stunting, delayed emergence, or stand loss—with bean leaf beetle and soybean aphid both hungry for young soybean plants.
Soybean aphids are small, about the size of a pinhead or smaller, and are yellow with distinct black cornicles , aka "tail-pipes". These are the only aphids to feed on soybeans in North America.
Late-planted soybean fields are often at the highest risk of early soybean aphid attack.
Seed treatments such as the Lumiderm insecticide seed treatment have been shown to provide effectiveness in delaying aphid increase, especially in late-planted situations.
Bean leaf beetle adults are about 20mm in length, typically dark yellow, but may be orange or red. Their wings often have four rectangular marks but, may also have two or no marks. A distinctive feature is a black triangle located behind their pronotum (neck region). In its larvae stage, it is white with a dark brown or black head and are typically found in soil near roots feeding in a nodule.
Mild winters allow for higher-than-average overwinter survival of bean leaf beetles which can reduce plant populations on early planted soybean fields.
Early season feeding of bean leaf beetle adults occurs on cotyledons, leaves, and the external surface of pods.
Larvae remain in the soil and feed on nodules and roots.
And, just for “good” measure, adult bean leaf beetles also can transmit a bean pod mottle virus, which reduces yield and quality and is one cause for green stem in soybeans.
While feeding during the vegetative growth stages occurs, the most economic damage occurs in summer as beetles feed on pods.
Brevant seeds offers growers the latest in soybean technology in a range of maturities, and for all regions with excellent disease resistance packages and local testing.
Combined with Lumiderm insecticide seed treatment from Corteva Agriscience, the solution is at hand to protect soybeans from these early season insects. Its LumiGEN mark of assurance means that you get seed treatments designed, verified and proven in the field to protect Brevant seed.
There are two key Brevant varieties for 2022 that farmers should consider in their growing plans.
B091FE, 2725 HU
- Enlist E3 variety;
- Very good field emergence;
- Multi-race phytophthora resistance (Rps1c);
- Above average harvest standability
B191FE, 3000 HU
- Enlist E3 variety;
- Strong harvest standability;
- Moderate plant height and moderately wide canopy;
- Multi-race phytophthora resistance (Rps1C,3A)
Choosing Brevant seeds soybean varieties with Lumiderm insecticide seed treatment ensures a farmer’s crop will hit the ground running with protection from early season insect pests.
The Lumiderm insecticide seed treatment provides broad spectrum protection against early season pests, while its unique mode of action and favourable environmental profile, makes it a simple choice for seed treatment.