MicrobeWorld

Beneficial bacteria, aided by a "cocktail" of potent natural compounds, may offer a way to biologically control soybean cyst nematodes and other crop-damaging roundworms. That's the implication of ongoing studies by scientists with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (DDPSC) in St. Louis, Mo. Petri dish tests and live-plant experiments at the St. Louis research center showed that the bacteria—members of the genus Pseudomonas—caused the nematodes to stop moving and, in some cases, disintegrate.