What is persistence?

• Persistence enables our biocontrol nematodes to survive long periods when no susceptible hosts are present in your field.  

• This persistence trait allows our biocontrol nematodes to establish in a field after a single application and control soil insects for multiple growing seasons.

How does it work?

• Insect attacking nematodes have survived in nature for millions of years and are naturally present around the world.  These wild nematodes have evolved to survive across long time periods when hosts are not available.  

• Insect attacking nematodes are non-feeding, meaning they have a limited amount of energy to find a suitable host before they die.  In order to bridge across periods where no hosts are available, wild nematodes evolved a trait called phased infectivity.  This means that only a portion of the nematodes in the soil are “awake” and hunting susceptible soil insects.  

• The rest of the nematode population is dormant in order to preserve their energy reserves.  As time passes, a different group of biocontrol nematodes become active and begin hunting for hosts.  Biocontrol nematodes who successfully find a host then reproduce and the process repeats. The next generation of nematodes wake up at random over the next several years and begin hunting.

Why does it matter?

• Once persistent biocontrol nematodes are established in your field, they can provide soil insect pest suppression for multiple growing seasons.

• With a wide range of possible hosts, (rootworm, wireworm and weevils to name a few) our biocontrol nematodes can remain established in your field throughout the winter months and across crop rotations.  All from a single application.

What about the commercial strains found online?

• Most commercial strains of biocontrol nematodes have been continuously reared under artificial conditions with little regard to preserving this wild trait for persistence.  As a result, these commercial strains only persist in the field between 7-30 days and are commonly used as a biopesticide.  

• This limits their impact, especially deeper in the soil.  Commercial strains must also be applied each year, and sometime multiple times per year, which can be expensive and time consuming.  In contrast, the biocontrol nematodes we produce have been carefully reared to preserve this valuable persistence trait.

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