Cotton farmers and the agencies and industries that support them have three to four years to come up with new products, techniques or a combination of currently available strategies to manage nematodes before they lose Temik, a mainstay for crop protection for some 40 years.
Resistant cultivars may be the best option but currently less than a handful of varieties with only moderate resistance are available and putting resistance into a variety with the yield and quality traits growers demand will not be easy.
In the meantime, those varieties moderately resistant to root knot nematodes may be a better option than some believe.
“They may be more beneficial than some folks have given them credit for,” said USDA-ARS nematologist Richard Davis, Tifton, Ga., during a panel discussion at the recent Beltwide Cotton Conferences in Atlanta.