How Potassium Nutrition Can Suppress Soybean Aphids

The soybean aphid has become the most important insect pest of soybeans in the Northeast and Midwest regions of North America. It often damages soybean plants that are K-deficient more than those that are not. Recent research in Wisconsin and Michigan has found that K-deficient soybeans can in some, but not all, instances suffer more from aphids than soybeans without K limitation, and that the causes may be related to amino acid composition of the phloem sap.