Most threats to your fields are visible: insects, weeds, weather, disease and even the occasional wildlife. This makes it easier to determine cause-and-effect when it comes to your soybean yields. However, when a pest is not visible, it’s difficult to know what is hindering yield. Unfortunately, the No.1 soybean pest in the U.S. happens to be invisible to the unaided eye and does not show many, if any, visible symptoms.

Soybean cyst nematode (SCN) attacks soybeans at the roots and quietly thwarts your yields. Due to the absence of aboveground symptoms, oftentimes SCN yield damage is attributed to cultural or environmental conditions, according to the Iowa State University Extension. This can lead to the build-up of undetected SCN populations.

This invisible damage means you could be unaware of your SCN problems. It’s important to submit soil samples to your local state extension to test for SCN presence. Syngenta encourages you to also develop a proactive management plan to protect your yields from SCN.

If you suspect SCN in your fields, consider treating your soybeans with Clariva^® Complete Beans seed treatment, a combination of separately registered products. Clariva Complete Beans provides crops with triple protection against insects, disease and nematodes during the critical early-growth stages. The nematicide component of Clariva Complete Beans provides lethal activity against SCN all season long, which is crucial as SCN reproduces throughout the growing season. It also reduces the selection pressure that renders genetic resistance less effective, a problem that is increasing as populations adapt to genetic resistance. Clariva Complete Beans also reduces damage from SCN-related diseases such as sudden death syndrome.

A proactive SCN management program that includes a seed treatment like Clariva Complete Beans is essential to protecting your soybeans from increased yield loss and increasing your return on investment. Help soybeans start strong by preparing for SCN so that you can grow more soybeans.

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