MÉTODOS DE CONTROLE DE NEMATOIDES NA CULTURA DA SOJA (Clycine max)

Abstract

This study analyzed the main methods of controlling phytonematodes in soybean (Glycine max), addressing genetic, biological, chemical, cultural, and behavioral management strategies. The relevance of the research is justified by the growing economic and productive impact caused by genera such as Aphelenchoides besseyi, Ditylenchus spp., Helicotylenchus spp., Heterodera glycines, Meloidogyne spp., Pratylenchus spp., Radopholus similis, Rotylenchulus reniformis, and Scutellonema spp., which represent one of the most serious phytosanitary challenges for soybean cultivation, generating annual losses exceeding BRL 27.7 billion and threatening the sustainability of production.The objective of this work was to conduct a critical systematization and an updated review of the main available strategies, evaluating the effectiveness, limitations, and integration potential of different management methods. A narrative literature review was carried out, analyzing scientific and technical publications from the last fifteen years, with data categorized by control type and subjected to comparative critical analysis.The results showed that management effectiveness does not rely on a single tool but on an integrated and hierarchical approach, in which cultural control was identified as the essential foundation of the system, acting preventively to reduce soil inoculum. On this basis, genetic control was positioned as a central pillar, although its sustainability proved to be threatened by the selection of biotypes and the scarcity of resistance sources for species such as Meloidogyne spp. Chemical and biological controls were characterized as complementary tactical tools: chemical control offers fast and localized action but presents cost and environmental limitations, whereas biological control provides prolonged and sustainable effects but faces challenges related to field performance consistency. Behavioral control, in turn, was classified as an innovative frontier, still under research development.It was concluded that the most resilient and effective strategy for damage mitigation and crop longevity is the synergistic combination of cultural practices as the foundation, associated with the use of resistant cultivars, supplementation with bioinputs, and the judicious and punctual application of nematicides.