DeceasedThe area planted to soybean in South Africa has increased by 54% since the 2009 growing season, mainly as a result of the increasing demand for protein-rich food and fodder sources. Moreover, the introduction of advanced technology, namely the availability of genetically modified herbicide tolerant soybean cultivars also contributed towards increased soybean production. The omnipresence of plant-parasitic nematodes in local agricultural soils, however, poses a threat to the sustainable expansion and production of soybean and other rotation crops. Meloidogyne incognita and M. javanica are the predominant nematode pests in local soybean production areas and those where other grain-, legume-and/or vegetable crops are grown. The lack of registered nematicides for soybean locally, crop production systems that are conducive to nematode pest build-ups as well as the limited availability of genetic host plant resistance to root-knot nematode pests, complicate their management. Research aimed at various aspects related to soybean-nematode research, namely, audits of nematode assemblages associated with the crop, identification of genetic host plant resistance in soybean germplasm to M. incognita and M. javanica, the use of molecular markers that are linked to such genetic resistance traits as well as agronomic performance of pre-released cultivars that can be valuable to producers and the industry are accentuated in this review. Evaluation of syntheticallyderived as well as biological-control agents are also discussed as complementary management tactics. It is important that lessons learned through extensive research on soybean-nematode interactions in South Africa be shared with researchers and industries in other countries as they might experience or expect similar problems and/or challenges.

The host status of South African adapted, genetically modified (GM) glyphosate-tolerant soybean genotypes to root-knot (field and glasshouse) and lesion (field) nematodes were assessed. Analyses of root and soil samples of 29 genotypes (collected from seven production areas during the 2014/15 season) enabled the identification of nine plant-parasitic nematode genera and 10 species. Predominant endoparasitic genera in root samples were Meloidogyne (Meloidogyne incognita and M. javanica) and Pratylenchus (Pratylenchus brachyurus, P. zeae and P. teres). Rotylenchulus parvus was the predominant semi-endoparasite in soil, followed by Scutellonema brachyurus and Helicotylenchus sp. Only ‘PAN 1583 R’ and ‘PAN 1521 R’ maintained less than 10% of the Meloidogyne spp. densities present in roots of the most susceptible genotype, while all genotypes were susceptible to the Pratylenchus spp. The host status of 36 soybean genotypes to M. incognita infection, evaluated in two follow-up glasshouse experiments terminated 56 days after inoculation of ca. 1000 M. incognita eggs and second-stage juveniles (J2) per seedling, varied substantially for final population density (Pf), reproduction factor (Rf) and relative percentage susceptibility (%S). Only ‘PRF-GCI7’ and the resistant reference ‘LS 5995’ had Rfs < 1 for both experiments, despite higher minimum and maximum temperatures recorded for the second experiment. Continuous evaluation of soybean genotypes for their host status to predominant nematode pests and their use to reduce densities of such species in producer’s fields are crucial to enable sustainable crop production, and contribute towards food provision and security.