Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Kathy Lawrence (chair) welcomed all of the participants and took a group photo. She introduced Paula Agudelo the USDA representative.

Paula Agudelo welcomed everyone to the new project and encouraged everyone to officially join the group through your Agricultural Experiment Station and the NIMS website. She shared the list of official members.

Emmanuel Byamukama updated the NIFA program and gave details about the goals, objectives, and topics. He also discussed the major funding programs and encouraged all to apply.

State Reports

Arkansas report – Travis Faske works in soybeans and corn reported on screening soybean for resistance to M. incognita. The top three cultivars have the same genetics. There is an interest in organic soybean production in his state too.

Florida report – Zane Grabau reported on his trials to control M. enterolobii on sweet potato. The Covington variety is susceptible to M. enterolobii and considered resistant to M. incognita. Telone provided the best yield protection. Sweet potato is not a host of sting nematode.

Johan Desaeger focused on vegetables in Central-South Florida 300 samples from 40 crops in 10 counties with M. incognita and M. enterolobii with a few other species. Sun hemp was shown to be a good cover crop for 4 nematode species and Sorghum sudangrass was good for M. enterolobii and M. incognita. Nanidorus minor is causing problems on tomato and strawberry.

Abolfazi Hajihassani discussed distribution and pathogenicity of M. floridensis in Florida on several crops. He reported M. floridensis in Georgia on tomato, watermelon, cowpea, and cucumber and a search for resistance in Solanum spp.   Collard did not appear to be a host for M. floridensis.

Louisiana report – Tristan Watson updated reniform nematode control update with more fields with higher nematode densities and less M. incognita. Resistant breeding lines from Missouri showed good resistance and high yields. Three in-furrow nematicides on sweet potato show Velum to be economically significant in one year but not the next year.

Missouri report Sushil Chhapekar and Henry Nguyen described a new strategy for resistance to multiple races of SCN by overexpressing Peking-type Rhg4 gene.

North Carolina report - Adrienne Gorny gave an update on M. enterolobii in North Carolina with 16 counties, mostly in the heart of sweet potato production. Nematicide trials to control RKN was inconclusive. Eggplant varieties were screened for resistance to M. enterolobii with similar trial on soybean and other crop plants.

South Carolina report - William Rutter reported about work with Ben Waldo on screening with wild citron melon for resistance to M. incognita. Eleven significant SNPs were identified with 4 distinct genomic loci on three different chromosomes. Quantitative resistance compared to GWAS pipeline. 

Virginia report - Jon Eisenback demonstrated the distribution of beech leaf disease nematode and described the plant-nematode relationship. This is the latest invasive species in the US found in Ohio in 2012 now from Maine to Virginia.

Alabama report – Kathy Lawrence showed results from the reniform resistant cotton, sweet potato yields from biologicals and cover crops, and MG4 variety response to soybeans.

Summary and final report

Abolfazl Hajihassani volunteered as chair in 2023 and will host the meeting in Ft Lauderdale.

Will Rutter volunteered as vice-chair and will host the 2024 meeting in Charleston.

More members are encouraged to join the meeting.

State Reports

Arkansas report – Travis Faske works in soybeans and corn reported on screening soybean for resistance to M. incognita. The top three cultivars have the same genetics. There is an interest in organic soybean production in his state too.

Florida report – Zane Grabau reported on his trials to control M. enterolobii on sweet potato. The Covington variety is susceptible to M. enterolobii and considered resistant to M. incognita. Telone provided the best yield protection. Sweet potato is not a host of sting nematode.

Johan Desaeger focused on vegetables in Central-South Florida 300 samples from 40 crops in 10 counties with M. incognita and M. enterolobii with a few other species. Sun hemp was shown to be a good cover crop for 4 nematode species and Sorghum sudangrass was good for M. enterolobii and M. incognita. Nanidorus minor is causing problems on tomato and strawberry.

Abolfazi Hajihassani discussed distribution and pathogenicity of M. floridensis in Florida on several crops. He reported M. floridensis in Georgia on tomato, watermelon, cowpea, and cucumber and a search for resistance in Solanum spp.   Collard did not appear to be a host for M. floridensis.

Louisiana report – Tristan Watson updated reniform nematode control update with more fields with higher nematode densities and less M. incognita. Resistant breeding lines from Missouri showed good resistance and high yields. Three in-furrow nematicides on sweet potato show Velum to be economically significant in one year but not the next year.

Missouri report Sushil Chhapekar and Henry Nguyen described a new strategy for resistance to multiple races of SCN by overexpressing Peking-type Rhg4 gene.

North Carolina report - Adrienne Gorny gave an update on M. enterolobii in North Carolina with 16 counties, mostly in the heart of sweet potato production. Nematicide trials to control RKN was inconclusive. Eggplant varieties were screened for resistance to M. enterolobii with similar trial on soybean and other crop plants.

South Carolina report - William Rutter reported about work with Ben Waldo on screening with wild citron melon for resistance to M. incognita. Eleven significant SNPs were identified with 4 distinct genomic loci on three different chromosomes. Quantitative resistance compared to GWAS pipeline. 

Virginia report - Jon Eisenback demonstrated the distribution of beech leaf disease nematode and described the plant-nematode relationship. This is the latest invasive species in the US found in Ohio in 2012 now from Maine to Virginia.

Alabama report – Kathy Lawrence showed results from the reniform resistant cotton, sweet potato yields from biologicals and cover crops, and MG4 variety response to soybeans.

Summary and final report

Abolfazl Hajihassani volunteered as chair in 2023 and will host the meeting in Ft Lauderdale.

Will Rutter volunteered as vice-chair and will host the 2024 meeting in Charleston.

More members are encouraged to join the meeting.